Colors Of Darkness
by Rumpelstiltskin0902
Summary: "No... Thank you..." Loki finally got what he'd always wanted: the throne of Asgard. But what now? How does our favourite supervillain experience his new power and what about Thor? A Fanfic about the world's most popular Gods, their new lifes and the (un)known dangers lurking in the shadows... (T rated for safety... so actually K rated)
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

The cup went up in the air and fell back in to the young men's hand. Up it went, and down again, every time reflecting the everlasting sunshine of Asgard and throwing dancing sparkles on the stone walls. Up and down… Up and down… Up and down… Up an…

"Sire?"

With a loud bang the cup fell to the ground. The sound echoed in the empty throne room. The young men sighed, lifted his head from the back of his golden throne and fixed his light grey eyes on the nervous guard who had just entered the room. A slight smile appeared on his face. Believe it or not, but it had taken quite some time for the young king to master a friendly smile. It was no longer the evil, sinister smile he used throw at most people, especially his brother…

The guard cleared his throat nervously. Even after all this time he didn't really know what to think of the new situation. Just as everybody else he knew something big was as stake, something bad had happened, but at the same time he had to admit that everything was going… Well… Great… Kind off….

The guard, reassured by the kind smile of his king began to talk: "My King, I bring news from the patrol to Midgard…"  
The young men's smile disappeared and made place for a serious frown. The guard paused for a moment. He knew how his king thought about Midgard, about Earth. At times like this he hated to be the Captain of the Guards.

"We found your brother, Prince Thor."

The young king rose from his throne and started descending the stairs leading towards the guard. He could sense the man was scared. Still, he couldn't let him leave yet.  
The guard continued: "It seems Thor has settled down with a Midgardian woman in a place called, what was it again New…"

"New York?" the young king suggested before he could stop himself. The guard looked startled.

"Yes, my King, I believe it was called New York…You know the…"  
The young king scowled and turned away from the guard, making sure he didn't see the pain in his eyes.

"Yes, I paid New York a short …. visit … some time ago…"

The guard could sense he had spoken out of turn and tried to soften the tense situation.  
"He was dressed in Midgardian clothing and wasn't carrying Mjölnir."

The young king seemed to be waiting for more. He now stood right in front of the guard, holding his sceptre in his right hand while looking at the man before him with a weird kind of curiosity in his light grey eyes.

"Are you certain he isn't coming back here any time soon?" he asked making sure he didn't sound to creepy.

"Thor did seem to be thinking about Asgard a lot, but the Midgardian woman persuaded him to leave it alone. They did visit some special Midgardian… in a tall tower… Stark tower, I think it was. It seemed to be some kind of smart men running the place…"  
Memories of pain, hatred, but above all fear, filled the young king's mind. He turned away again and rubbed his head with his fingers.

"You said the girl persuaded my brot… Thor?"

"Yes, my King."

The young men grinned and muttered: "I still like here…"

"Excuse me, Sire?" the guard asked cautiously. The young king turned around again and smiled.

"Nothing, you' re dismissed. You did well!"  
The guard bowed and couldn't help smiling. Relieved he left the throne room.

The young king walked towards the window and looked over Asgard: his city, his kingdom. Somewhere far beneath him he heard the clattering of weapons and the screaming of warriors practising. In the far distance the young king saw the rainbow bridge leading to a weird circular building with some sort of huge pin on top of it. The Bifröst: the bridge between Asgard and the other eight realms. He smiled. At long last, he finally got it. He finally got what he'd always wanted, what always had belonged to him.

He knew he had changed in his three months of being king, but he would always stay the God of Mischief. No throne would change that. Just as his past, his deeds, his reputation and his memories would never change. But still, it all leaded to this. The one thing he had been craving for all these years.  
He was Loki, King of Asgard.

But to be honest… ruling turned out to be quite boring…


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

It had been five years since the first patrol to Midgard had returned. Five human years, but since he was King of Asgard, they seemed like thousands. Loki had to admit: being king… it kind of sucked! All right. He loved the power and all the other stuff and he wouldn't give it up, ever! But… even the God of Mischief had to admit he missed his past life. The scheming about taking Odin's, that old, senile fool's throne, getting rid of his arrogant brother, ruling the Earth… And even though Loki would never say it out loud, he missed the fighting. Not against his brother, but alongside his brother and his old friends: Lady Sif and the Worriers Three. Even after everything that had happened nobody could deny their efficiency as a team. Together they had won glorious battles, fought mighty enemies. More than once, Loki saved the lives of his friends and brother. Unlike them, he was a born strategist and therefore he knew when to fall back or when to attack. That was a talent his brother, ironically, didn't possess and his friends would always follow their prince blindly.

But that was all in the past. His former friends were locked away safely in the same cells where Loki used to be kept. The young king was almost certain Thor had told them what, according to him, had happened on Svartalfheim. And even if he didn't, they were not to be trusted. They would easily ignore every order of their king to warn their precious prince on Earth. Loki didn't mean to keep them behind bars for the rest of their lives, though. He would set them free on the same day he would tell Thor the truth. That day still needed to come. For now, Loki thought it was better to wait.

For now he needed to focus on the boring speeches of the Captain of the Guard who always said exactly the same thing: Asgard couldn't be better off! During his rule, Loki had not suffered from one attack. It seemed they had run out of enemies or their enemies where hiding in the shadows, afraid after the great strength Asgard had shown. Only news about Thor's whereabouts brought a bit of variation in the young king's life. Not that his so could brother had the most interesting life, no, but news of Midgard (yes, even that puny world) was way more interesting than the boringness of Asgard.

Loki waited until the Captain left the throne room before letting out a bored sigh. The Captain had just informed him - surprise – nothing special or thrilling had happened during the past month on Midgard. But Loki was still very interested in Thor's life. Five years before, a patrol had come back to tell the young king Thor had become a father. A beautiful little girl was born and before Thor had had a choice, the Midgardian women had named her daughter Frigga. She named the girl after Loki's and Thor's mother who had died in order to protect the Aether which had hidden itself inside the Midgardian woman's body.  
Ever since that day Loki had found special interest in the little girl. He wanted to know what she would become being the child of an Asgardian and a Midgardian. But he didn't get any useful information. Thor tried to hide whatever talents she had from the rest of the world.

Loki sighed again, got up from his throne an walked over to the window.  
"Five years…," he muttered. Only five simple years ago, a breath in the life of a God, Loki had been imprisoned by his own brother. From the moment Frigga had died he had been scheming over a new, better plan. A plan of revenge. He knew his brother wanted revenge as much as he wanted, but he wasn't sure he would risk setting free his not to be trusted brother.  
The plan was formed within days, but could only work if Thor set him free. Loki saw no way out and for the first time in his life he let his grief take over his mind. And then, out of nowhere, Thor's little, mortal girlfriend turned up, carrying her own problem. But Loki didn't really care anymore, to be honest he never would have imagined Thor going against his king like that. Anyway, he had to think fast when Thor came to him for help. In the end he faked his own death, returned to Asgard disguised as a simple guard and told Odin about his son's death. After that it was almost too easy to take his throne. Loki put an illusion of himself in his former cell while he took the throne, disguised as Odin. The only problem left was Thor. Not that Loki couldn't handle it, he had a whole new plan ready. He was going to arrest Thor for being a traitor against his king by freeing Loki, but as turned out Thor just refused the throne and left.

A month after that, still in disguise, Loki declared himself king. Loki was Odin's only son left and after Thor's little speech about Loki being a better ruler, things just turned out exactly the way Loki wanted.

Five years later and nothing had changed. The Asgardians still believed he same story. Thor freed Loki, defeated the Dark Elves, saved the Earth and the other realms and in the end he brought Loki back to Asgard. There he refused the throne and left to live on Midgard.

Everyone who could be a thread was locked away. Except for one: Heimdall. He guarded the Bifröst and protected Asgard form intruders. Heimdall could see what happened on other worlds and therefor he knew Loki had faked his death. Loki knew Heimdall didn't trust him in the slightest, but he also knew Heimdall would never go against his king. So fare, nothing had gone wrong between Loki and Heimdall.

"My King?" a voice sounded through the throne room.

Loki, who was lost in thoughts, turned around a little too quickly and almost started shouting at the guard who just entered, but he could stop himself just in time. Even after all this time he couldn't fully hide his former self.

"Excuse me, my King, I didn't mean to startle you," the young guard said quickly. Loki tried to smile, but it didn't really work out so he decided to just get to the point.

"Why are you here?" he asked making sure he sounded at least a bit friendly.

"I bring word from Heimdall, Sire. He requested a hearing with you."

Loki sighed. Heimdall had been watching him. He quickly nodded as a sign he would go to see Heimdall. Sometimes he had the feeling Heimdall could read his mind. Or was this just a coincidence? The guard didn't seem to notice his kings unusual behaviour and just kept talking.

"Shall I inform the stables, Sire? How many guards will accompany you?"

Loki thought for a moment and nodded again.  
"Ready my horse and two other horses. I will arrive in a moment."

The guard bowed and left the room. Loki fetched his sceptre and followed.

"You two!" he commanded the two guards guarding the door leading to the throne room. "You will accompany me. I have to speak with Heimdall." The guards bowed and followed their king. Two other guards took their places at the door.

Ten minutes later Loki and the two guards left the palace. Outside, three horses were waiting. Loki greeted his steed by tapping on his neck.

"It's been a while…," he muttered.  
The guard who had informed Loki stepped forward. He held up Loki's golden helmet.

"Aren't you going to wear your helmet, Sire?" he asked cautiously.  
The guard knew Loki could just change his appearance at will, but since he never seemed to wear his helmet anymore, the Captain of the Guard had insisted to make an exact replica. But even then, their King refused to put it on.  
Loki looked at his helmet. Immediately his head was filled with horrifying memories. He didn't really understand why his helmet in particular seemed to bring back all those memories. Loki had tried to wear it again, as it was a symbol of power, but after the first months of his reign, Loki had put it aside and never changed his appearance again.

"Not today!" he said shortly. He and the guards mounted their horses and set of in a swift gallop. Loki in the middle, the two guards either at one side of their king, right behind him.

The fellowship crossed the rainbow bridge leading to the Bifröst. When they reached the Bifröst, Loki slowed down and dismounted his horse.

"Wait here for my return. I have to speak with Heimdall alone," he demanded the guards before walking into the Bifröst.  
Heimdall was standing in front, his sword held in both hands, point resting on the ground. His golden eyes pierced into the universe.

"You wanted to speak to me, Heimdall!" Loki called out. Heimdall didn't move until Loki was standing right beside him. He looked at his king and bowed his head.

"Indeed, my King. Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but I see it as my duty to speak my mind."

Loki shut his eyes for a second. He had a feeling he knew what was coming.  
"No need to apologize, speak your mind Heimdall. What is bothering you?"

Heimdall waited a few seconds before continuing.  
"It has been five years… With all due respect, Sire, but isn't it about time you tell your brother the truth?"

Loki smiled, but there was nothing friendly about his smile anymore.  
"Thor is not my brother and I will decide myself when it's the right time to tell him!"

"The longer you wait, the harder it gets…", Heimdall muttered.

"Know your place, Heimdall!" Loki shouted before he could stop himself. Immediately he realised that he had just said the same thing Thor always used to shout at him. He wanted to take it back. Not because he pitied Heimdall, but because it made him feel like he was changing into his brother.

"My apologies, my King…," Heimdall said in a low voice.

"Was there anything else?" Loki asked trying to put the incident behind him.

"Yes, Sire, it's about the whereabouts of your father, the Allfather."

A new wave of anger accompanied by a great feeling of panic raced trough the young kings body.  
"Odin was never my father!" he hissed between clenched teeth. "What about him!"

"I know it's not of my concern, not anymore, but again, I must speak my mind!"  
Heimdall waited for Loki's permission to speak but his king just looked at him with withholding rage.  
"The Allfather suddenly disappeared from my view. He didn't die, I would see him entering Valhalla. The question that remains is: where is he then?"

For the first time Heimdall looked at Loki. His golden eyes pierced into his light grey eyes. Loki shivered. Again, he got the feeling Heimdall could read his thoughts. Loki found his courage and refused to break the eye contact. In a silent voice, almost a whisper, he answered.

"This is not of your concern indeed!"

Heimdall fixed his eyes on the universe before him.  
"Please except my apologies, my King", he said.

It remained silent for a few minutes. It was Loki who started speaking again.

"Tell me, Heimdall, do you trust me?" he asked.

Heimdall didn't move when he answered.  
"It is not my job to question my king!"

Loki smiled again. No friendly touch to be found.  
"Then answer me one question: has Asgard or any other realm suffered from attacks or threats under my rule?"

"No, my King…" Heimdall answered shortly.

"In that case I think I'm doing my job quite good. All I ask from you is to do yours!"

"Of course, my King!" Heimdall answered, the sarcasm in his voice noticeably.

"Excellent!"  
Loki scowled. The conversation was finished. He was ready to leave, but something drew him back. Loki looked past Heimdall. The stars outside the Bifröst ogled. Loki looked behind him at the entrance of the Bifröst. For a second he saw himself dangling over the edge again. His father, no, Odin looked down at him.  
_"No, Loki!" _Loki heard him say. Again a dark emptiness filled his heart. He felt how the will to live slowly left his body. His fingers lost the grip on the sceptre and then... Thor, screaming his name in agony...

The young king swallowed and looked back at Heimdall. Why go back to Asgard? It was only a place filled with bad memories and nightmares. Why go back if he could leave it all behind, even if only for one day?

Loki made up his mind. Asgard was in perfect hands. The Captain of the Guard was a good man and Loki would be back soon! Besides, Loki knew just the perfect place to go. He walked back to Heimdall.

"Heimdall, send me to Jotunheim. Tell the guards outside to leave my horse and to go back to the palace. The Captain of the Guard is in charge while I'm gone!"

Heimdall casted a suspicious look on Loki.  
"May I ask what your business is on Jotunheim, my King?"

"No! You may not! Do as I say!" Loki demanded.

Heimdall walked towards the centre of the room and placed his sword in the whole there. The Bifrost started turning.  
"As you wish, Sire!" With that said he pushed the sword deeper into the ground. Loki felled how the rainbow grabbed him and sucked him away from Asgard. Loki enjoyed the ride. It had been a long time! But before he knew it, his feet touched the ground again.

The first sign that showed something was not right was the fact that Loki didn't feel any cold. His concerns where conformed when the dust had disappeared. Loki found himself in the middle of nowhere. The sun was shining, the sky was blue. Somewhere in the far distance emerged a huge city. Loki looked at the soil beneath his feet. Sand… He sighed.  
_You've got to be kidding me!_ he thought. Loki looked up at the city in the distance. A city he knew as New York in a place he knew as Midgard...

* * *

So... That was the "official" start of my first fic! Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know...  
The first few chapters are written, so all I have to do is a bit of editing... You can expect an update pretty soon! :)

And for those who set their hopes on a Lokane fic, I'm sorry, but this isn't one of them... The original ships stay the same...

Anyway.. review or correct me if needed... (I know, there're probably some really weird sentences to be found...)  
and of course: ENJOY!

;) Rumpel


	3. Chapter 2

Hi! Some of you may have noticed I changed my K+ rating to T rated. That's because of this chapter, but really don't expect to much from it...

ENJOY! ( I had a lot of fun writing it!)

* * *

_**Chapter 2**_

Loki sighed. This couldn't be happening. He looked skywards.  
"Heimdall! Open the Bifröst!"

Loki waited, but nothing happened.  
"Heimdall! I demand you to open the Bifröst!" Loki shouted angrily, but still, nothing happened.

"Heimdall! Obey your King and open the Bifröst!" Nothing…

The young king walked around the circle the Bifröst had left on the ground. Frigga had taught Loki how to read the symbols of the Bifröst. Based on the old runes you could find out the place of departure and arrival and other stuff like the time needed to make the journey, the distance, …  
If something was wrong with the Bifröst itself, Loki would be able to read it in the circle. Everything seemed to be in order. Nothing wrong.  
Heimdall had send him to Earth on purpose!  
Loki had to admit; it couldn't been easy for Heimdall to deny an order of his king. But on the other hand, it wouldn't be the first time…

The only other possibility was that Heimdall was killed or now unable to use the Bifröst, for example: frozen at the entrance…  
No, Loki understood Heimdall's actions, kind off. Heimdall wanted him to tell Thor. Something that wasn't going to happen!

"You're a pathetic little man, Heimdall! Open the Bifröst now and I won't press any charges against you!" Loki called out. No answer.

"You're a fool! I am your King! Open the Bifröst! You really think you're little plan is going to work?"  
Nothing…

Loki growled angrily and looked down at his sceptre which was still in his right hand. Why did he even bring that useless thing? How could he be so stupid? The sceptre could set the Bifröst in motion by itself! He had given in to his own desire without thinking, too afraid of the unforgotten memories in Asgard. Now he was stuck on this bloody planet an even worse: Asgard had no king! The Captain was a good man, but he was no king. How long would it take for him to crave for more power?

Loki casted one last furious look at the sky.  
_Don't lose it now… Use your brain! _he said to himself. Heimdall would – possibly - only open the Bifröst for Thor and to achieve that, Loki needed to tell his brother the truth.  
Another option was to wait for the next patrol to come down, but that would at least take a month since the last patrol had just come back. Besides, Heimdall would possibly send them to the other side of the city. By the time Loki would have found them it would be – presumably – too late again. Loki wasn't even sure Heimdall would send any more patrols down. He could see everything easily from his place in the Bifröst. The only reason Loki had send the patrols down instead of just asking Heimdall, was to stop his brother from coming to Asgard if necessary.

Loki sighed and cursed under his breath. He was back where he had started. The young king looked up again and fixed his light grey eyes on the perfect blue sky.

"One last chance, Heimdall! I command you to open the Bifröst. You are committing treason of the biggest sort! Odin may have been easy on you, but I am not him! If I really need to, I can replace you a thousand times!"  
Loki knew that that last thing was a lie. You couldn't just replace someone like Heimdall, but it was worth trying.

"If anything happens to Asgard while I'm gone, it's all on you! Ask yourself, my friend, can you take the blame? Asgard and his inhabitants are not save without a real king!"

Loki kept shouting everything he could think of, but nothing he said seemed to impress the guardian. Suddenly, Loki saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned around and stood face to face with an old Midgardian. The old man looked at him with big watery eyes full of confusion out of the window of his pick-up. He was wearing a straw hat and seemed to be chewing on some sort of reed. His chin was covered in stubbles. Loki shivered. That was the second human being who succeeded to sneak up on him and to be honest, he liked the first one a lot more than this old, ugly fool. He hadn't even realised he had landed nearby a dusty road.  
Loki realised he had been standing shouting at the sky, waving around a ridiculous sceptre, wearing his usual clothes. Not to mention the strange markings on the ground, but still he looked at the man and said in his most Loki-alike voice: "What are you looking at?"

The man seemed to hesitate and Loki got the feeling the Midgardian didn't recognize him.

"How old are you, son, 'cuz you seem like one of those weirdo youngsters who dress up like these so called superheroes…"

Loki looked bewildered.  
"Excuse me! You think I'm one of you? A puny Midgardian? How dare you!"

The man didn't seem taken back. He just raised his eyebrows and set back in his chair.  
"All right, all right, pretty boy! It was only a question!"

"Pretty what!" Loki shouted. This Midgardian had nerve… whatever pretty boy meant.  
"You think it's smart to challenge me, old man?" he added in his most creepy voice.

The old man finally seemed to be getting scared.  
"Calm down, feller, I was thinking about offering you a ride, but now I just think you're a fucking psychopath! See ye!"

Before Loki could say anything else, the man drove off like a bullet from a gun and disappeared in the distance. It took Loki quite some time before he understood what just had happened.  
"Smart, Loki, really smart…" he muttered. That was his chance to get away from here!

Loki rubbed his eyes. Shouting to Heimdall didn't have any use. He had to come up with a plan. If only he could find a way to let Thor open the Bifröst without him finding out the truth…  
Suddenly, an idea sprang to the young king's mind. It wasn't perfect, but he could work out the rest once he had arrived on Asgard. If needed he would spend some more time in disguise.  
The plan was simple. He would change his appearance to Odin's. He would find Thor and tell him, disguised as the Allfather, he had found out about his grandchild and he really wanted to meet her after all this years. Afterwards he would persuade Thor in coming with him, back to Asgard. Thor would open the Bifröst. Heimdall wouldn't be able to ignore an order from his favourite prince. Otherwise Thor would think something was wrong and Loki was certain Heimdall didn't want Thor to worry to much.

Now he only needed… A ride! Far away, Loki heard a car getting near. He had to think fast. Loki changed himself into a common, young Midgardian en hid the strange circle with a simple illusion. Now he only needed to wait. When the car came closer Loki stepped in the middle of the road. The car stopped and a middle-aged man leaned out of the window.

"What's your problem? Standing in the middle of the road!" he called out with a hoarse voice. The man's piercing blue eyes investigated every inch of Loki and his surroundings. Loki did the same. In his opinion this guy must have been handsome according to human standards, because he made him think of Thor with his blond hair, bright eyes and muscled body. But above all he looked incredibly stupid. Perfect!

The young king had to try hard not to shout at the man like he had done before with the old guy. He cleared his mind.  
_Come on, Loki _he spoke to himself. _Get yourself together! You never had any problem with pretending…  
_Loki cleared his throat.

"I was just wondering if I could get a ride to the city. My girlfriend just dropped me here in the middle of nowhere…" he said grinning stupidly.  
"So much fuss about a stupid misunderstanding… women, you know...nothing but trouble"

The man grinned back and Loki knew he was dealing with a complete idiot. The young king knew better than to insult a woman, but that could be the result of living alongside Sif his whole life…

"Yeah man, no kidding…" the man answered. Again he looked at Loki like he was searching for something.  
"That's why I don't date chicks, dude, I prefer our own kind… if you know what I mean", he added in a whisper.

It took some time for Loki to understand what the guy before him had just said. An rather awkward thought crossed his mind and one wink of the man confirmed his fears. He should of known it was just too good to be true… Loki closed his eyes.  
_Typical… Why does this had to happen to me… _he thought. _Why can't things just be easy for once…  
_Loki opened his eyes again and found the man staring at him again with a hungry kind of look in his eyes.  
The young king sighed. Oh, well, what other choice did he have… How bad could it be…

Loki forced his face into what he hoped to be a flirting smile. "I think we understand each other…" he answered in a whisper while he walked to the car. The man grinned.

"I think you just got yourself a free ride to New York…" he said.  
Loki had to do his best not to run away. Instead he walked over to the other side of the car, opened the door and sat down next to the driver.

"You know, I never expected to meet someone like me in a place like this…" the gay man said throwing a flirty look on his new passenger.

Loki forced himself to keep up the smile.  
"Let's call it fate…" the young king answered.

The man giggled in a rather girly way and drove off.  
"So what's your name, beauty?" he asked.

Loki's eyes grew big. What did that idiot just call him? He looked out of the window, hiding his face from the man.  
"Tony…", Loki answered shortly, saying the first name that came up in his mind. The man next to him giggled again.

"What a beautiful name… I'm Stuart… Stuart Jhonson… So what brings an innocent feller like you to a city as New York?"

Loki got the feeling he had to throw up. Couldn't this guy just shut up!  
"I'm visiting … my brother…" he said, immediately hating himself for calling Thor his brother.

"Hmmm, what about your brother…" Stuart said throwing meaningful looks at his passenger. Loki needed all his strength to keep himself from laughing. The smile that appeared on his face seemed to be the answer to Stuart's question.

"I see," he said mysterious, "maybe we could meet each other one of these days… what's his name?"

Loki looked out of the window again. Even his splendid, deceiving, acting skills were no match for this.  
"Bruce…", Loki answered, again saying the first name coming to his mind.

"Another beautiful name…", Stuart said dreamily.

A short silence filled the car. Loki was delighted to see them driving into New York. He wanted to get out of this car as fast as possible, but on the other hand… The young king didn't know a thing about New York accept that it was huge. It only seemed logical to drive all the way to Thor's house.  
On second thought, maybe not. It seemed safer if this guy didn't know where Loki was going…  
Loki tried to remember where the patrols said Thor lived. All he knew was that Thor visited Stark Tower every now and then an that he liked to spend time in Central Park.

"So where do I need to drop you of?" Stuart asked while they were waiting for a red light to turn green again. Loki was still making up his mind and Stuart saw his chance.

"You can always come to my place if you like!"

Loki swallowed and quickly declined the offer.  
"No, thank you. My brother is waiting for me at Central Park."

Stuart looked quite disappointed. The light changed green again and he turned right. Loki was almost certain he was taking a longer way and that he wasn't going to give up that fast.

"Maybe we could meet again sometime…" Stuart continued while letting an old woman cross the street, ignoring all the angry faces around him.

"Yeah maybe, I would like that…" Loki forced himself to say. He was getting nervous of this man's slowness.

"Can I have your phone number? So we can hold contact!" Stuart added happily.  
Loki was having trouble focussing on the conversation. He wanted to get out of this car right now! Feverishly he tried to remember what a phone number was for…

"I lost my phone yesterday, sorry…" he answered quickly.

"Oh, that's a shame." Stuart went on, driving ten miles slower than he was supposed to be. Loki could see bits of a huge park at the end of the streets they past. Central Park he supposed.

"Your Facebook…. Twitter maybe?"

"I don't have those", Loki said sharply not knowing what any of these things were.

"E-mail? Address?", Stuart continued, now finally turning left toward Central Park. Loki, who still didn't understand a word the man was saying, pretended to look on the digital watch of the radio.

"Daim! I'm already ten minutes late!" he cried out. "I'm sorry, but aren't we there yet?"

Stuart scowled and parked the car near an entrance of Central Park.  
"I was just wondering where you live…", he tried again.

Loki opened the door and jumped out of the car.  
"Sorry! No time!" he shouted while crossing the street, risking his own life. Right now he just wanted to get the hell out of that car.

"Wait!" Stuart called out desperately.  
"Can you at least tell me your last name?"

But Loki had already disappeared between the visitors of Central Park.

* * *

I know, it's short, but trust me! The next chapies will be a bit longer...

Just to be clear: Loki's not gay! I'm just trying to show you his perspective on humans. As you can see, he doesn't quite understand how they work and react and therefor Loki goes extreme! :)

Hope you enjoyed it! Review please! ;)


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

Loki walked for almost an hour before getting rid of his most disturbing memory of his life. Before he realised it, the young king found himself lost inside Central Park. Now he came to think of it. He didn't even know for sure Thor would be here today. According to the information he got from the patrols, he and his family only visited on Saturdays, during the afternoon. According to the clock in the car it had been two o'clock in the afternoon. Now Loki only had to find out what day it was. For a second he thought about asking a passer-by, but he didn't want to look like a complete freak, so he quickly forgot about his idea.

After another ten minutes strolling around, Loki saw a little shop at the side of the path. It sold stuff like ice cream, soda and… newspapers. Obviously he had no human money on him right now. Loki could of course just create an illusion, but he had no idea what human money looked like. Therefore the young king decided to just stroll past the stand and take a swift look at the newspapers, but because Loki had no idea where to find the date, it took him a little longer than he initially meant.  
The shop owner, a big man in a way to tiny shop, looked at him looking irritated.

"He, dude! Are ye gonna by the bloody thing or not?" he said harshly between the smacking of his chewing gum.  
Loki looked up at the big guy. He realised his new appearance was two heads smaller than the bodybuilder in front of him, but the young king was starting to get enough of these mortal's stupidity. He really had been facing to many idiots in one day and it was starting to bump him out.

"Human!" he hissed. "I've fought guys who were ten times bigger, smarter, stronger and better looking than you. So if I were you, I would shut my greedy mouth and keep quiet. You really don't want any trouble with me…"

The shop owner's face turned red. Furiously he slammed his meaty fist on the counter. The people standing around them went quiet.  
"You think you're smart, little man?" he asked in a whisper. "Turn around now and run back to your sweet, ugly mommy. I think she made pancakes for you…"

Loki didn't move a muscle and kept an nonchalant expression on his face.  
"That', he started, "was a really stupid thing to say…"

If possible, the crowd went even more quiet. Loki got the feeling this guy was a known agitator and that everyone was freaking scared of him.  
The fat face of the man turned purple. He slowly walked away from the back of his stand, showing a pile of empty beer cans. Loki took a step back to give the man the chance to put his massive body in front of the stand.  
"I gave you a chance, pal. You're lucky I'm in a generous mood today. One more chance to run away and never show me your stupid face again."

Loki didn't move. He just stood there, keeping up the eye contact. A small, challenging smile formed on his lips.  
He may've been looking like a common, puny, soft Midgardian, but that did not mean he didn't keep his own strength and fighting skills.

The shop owner had had enough. He raised his fist, ready to smash it on Loki's face, but before he got a chance to attack, Loki slipped underneath his outstretched arm. The man missed him with inches. Confused he looked around, but Loki had already grabbed his other arm and kicked hard against the man's left shin. The grotesque shop owner screamed and turned around furiously. Exactly what Loki wanted him to do. The young king ducked under the man's swinging left arm, grabbed his right one and tucked it behind his back. Using his true strength, Loki grabbed his attackers head and smashed it hard on the counter of the newspaper stand.

Everything had happened so quickly that the shop owner had had no time to defend himself. He was now lying, confused and dazed, with his head on his own counter while the strange man was holding him down with an incredibly great strength.

Loki leaned over the body of the shop owner.  
"Like I said… You. Don't. Want. Any. Trouble. With. Me."

The fat man tried to nod, but that only made Loki push him harder on the counter.  
"Yes, sir…" he squeaked in agony. Loki smiled evilly.

"I'm happy we understand each other… Next time you see me, you better run… Am I making myself clear?"

"Cristal clear, sir…" the shop owner peeped.

"Excellent!" Loki suddenly called out. He let go of the man's head and stepped back. The groaning man tried to get on his feet again. Loki looked around. Everybody was staring at him in an admiring way. He knew it wasn't necessary, but the young king just wanted to finish this in the right way. He looked back at the stand and his eye fell on a red, plastic bottle filled with a brown fluid. It looked disgusting, but he had noticed that many people were drinking it, so it had to be good.

Loki fixed his attention back on the shop owner. He smiled and pulled the man towards him. The man yelped and closed his eyes, waiting for Loki's attack. But the young king let go of the man's sweaty T-shirt and cleaned of the dirt on his shoulders.

"One more thing, _pal_", Loki whispered sarcastically just loud enough so the crowd would hear every word.  
The young king waited a few seconds and watched the fat man swallow in fear. Then, without warning he kicked right between the man's legs. The shop owner squealed and sank to his knees, not able to keep the tears from his eyes. Loki looked down at him, his eyes filled with cold hatred. He kneeled right before the defeated man and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Next time you insult my mother I make sure you'll join her in death!"

The man nodded fiercely, but that wasn't enough for Loki.

"What did you say?" he asked viciously.

"Yes, Sir…", the man yelped in pain.

Loki nodded approvingly. Suddenly a friendly smile appeared on his face.  
"See, that wasn't that difficult. You're getting smarter already!" he said happily.  
With that said, Loki got to his feet again and grabbed a bottle of the potion that was called _Coca Cola_. He kneeled before the shop owner and asked in his most innocent voice: "Can I have this, beating someone's ass make's you thirsty…" The man nodded quickly. Loki raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, sir, of course…" the man said in a hoarse voice.

Loki smiled.  
"Thank you very much, my friend!"

Loki turned around and was ready to leave when someone suddenly appeared.

"What's going on here?" a voice called out from the crowd. Police? No. Way better!

Out of the crowd came a small woman. She had long, brown hair and her face said: I'm a know-it-all! A stern look covered her, obviously, young face while she inspected the situation like a real scientist. Loki was paralysed for a moment. Finally things were beginning to turn out right! Out all people, Jane Foster needed to intervene! After a few seconds Loki realised he had been staring at Thor's girlfriend way to long. He quickly forced his friendly smile back on his face and held up the bottle.

"Nothing, miss, just a slight misunderstanding…" he said innocently.  
Jane squeezed her eyes to a minimum and observed the stranger standing before her. Afterwards she threw a quick look on the shop keeper who was still sitting on the ground.

"You kicked that idiot's ass?" she asked suspiciously. Loki grinned.

"I'm stronger than I look, sweetheart. Why don't you come with me, then I'll show you…" he said flirty.

Jane opened her mouth in awe.  
"You dick!" she cried out while raising her hand to hit Loki in the face, but the young king saw it coming – this time – and caught her hand in mid-air. A dirty frown appeared on his forehead.

"Oh, sassy..." Loki whispered. "I like that!"

Jane freed herself from Loki's grip.  
"Get out of here, you freak!" she shouted.

Loki winked and before anyone could do something, he disappeared in the crowd, leaving behind a confused and shocked Jane Foster.

* * *

Yes, I know, I promissed a longer chapie... But hey, I uploaded two chapies for you guys in one day! ;)

Let me know what you think! I had a lot of fun writing this one! I hope you like it as much as I do!

x :)


	5. Chapter 4

As promised, this chapie is a bit longer ;) Enjoy! x

* * *

_**Chapter 4**_

Loki couldn't believe his luck. He quickly made his way through the crowd and hid himself behind some trees. There he watched the crowd fall apart. Jane Foster was still standing in the middle of the road, trying to get a grip on what just had happened. Perfect! At the side of the road the shop keeper tried to get on his feet again, but Loki was not interested in him. He kept a close eye on Jane while she slowly made her way for a bench at the other side of the path, rubbing her arm confusedly.

Loki slowly opened the bottle of Coca Cola and tasted the brown fluid. A sprinkling sensation spread threw his whole mouth. The young king looked surprised at the bottle. Even though he wouldn't easily admit it, this Midgardian drink was rather good.

Suddenly Jane got up from the bench and left. Loki screwed the cap back on the bottle, changed his appearance into that of an old man and left his hiding place to follow Thor's girlfriend. He made sure to keep some distance between himself and Jane. Especially after what just had happened, she would be more paranoia.

Five minutes later Jane slowed down near a small playground. Loki who was walking in front of her now, pretending to admire the flowers, heard her talk to herself.

"Smile, Jany! Otherwise Thor's gonna be worried and nobody likes a worried Thor…" she said softly.  
"Nothing happened. It was just a stupid freak! Smile Jany!"

Loki shook his head. Pathetic! He turned around and saw Jane forcing a smile on her face before entering the playground. Loki followed her to the back of the playground. There he found a small swing. There were only two people. All the other kids were romping on the climbing frame or were playing stuff like hide and seek. Jane walked towards the tall, big man behind the swing and kissed him softly on the cheek. The man smiled and kissed her back.  
Loki almost needed to puke! _Oh please… _he thought while sitting down on a bench halfway the playground. Still, for the first time in five years he saw his brother again. He had to admit he was surprised. Thor was wearing a green shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a pair of white sneakers. Not only did he look… normal. Loki was certain Thor had gained some weight… just a little…

But the most interesting person on the sight was the little girl on the swing. Loki couldn't keep his eyes of here. She was beautiful indeed. Frigga had long, blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was laughing and yelling louder every time her father pushed her again. Higher and higher. She wanted higher and higher. And every time she cried in excitement, Frigga showed her beautiful smile and Loki found himself smiling.  
For the first time ever he finally saw his …well… niece! Somewhere deep inside a sudden feeling took over his heart. Was that… jealousy? Loki shook his head in confusion. No! he couldn't give anything about the daughter of his arrogant brother and that woman who got his mother killed ! He left the bench and disappeared between the trees again. It was time to put his plan in motion.

The young king walked closer towards the couple, making sure he stayed out of their view. Now Loki was standing so close, he could follow the conversation.

Jane Foster looked lovingly at her happy, little daughter.  
"Thor, darling, let her play with the other kids, please…", she said with a friendly voice. "It won't hurt her…"

But Thor shook his head and a serious frown appeared on his handsome face.  
"I'm sorry, Jane, but that's not safe!"

Jane sighed and let go of her husband's shoulder.  
"Oh, come on! They're only kids! And by the way, scientific research shows us that interaction with peers is necessary in the education of a young child!" Jane added with a meaningful grin.

"Of course… because _scientific research _is always right…" Thor answered sarcastically while pushing his daughter again.

Jane's smile disappeared and made place for a rather angry scowl. She crossed her arms before her chested and answered: "I'm not saying that! You always put words in my mou…"

Jane couldn't finish her little speech because Thor interrupted her by kissing her right on the mouth. Jane quickly backed away, blushing when she did.  
"Thor!" she whispered. "People are watching!"

Thor grinned again and put his arm around Jane.  
"Are they?" he whispered back in her ear. Jane hit her husband playfully in the stomach.

Loki, who had seen everything from his hideout between the trees felt sick. _Oh please… _he thought again. _Can they be anymore disgusting?_  
Anyway, he had to put his plan in motion. Loki concentrated and changed himself into Odin. Again he found himself carrying that ridicules sceptre, but since the Allfather always seemed to carry it around wherever he went, he had to keep it close for a little while longer. Now he only had to wait for the right moment to appear.

Frigga, who had had enough of the awkward behaviour of her parents, jumped from the swing while it was still in the air and ran off to a deserted sandpit.

"Frigga! Wait!", Thor called out. He stretched out his arm, ready to stop his daughter, but Jane stopped him.

"Thor, really, let her be. It 's only a sandpit. Thrust me, I'm sure that Central Park made sure there aren't any man eating monsters hiding in their sandpits… This is Earth, not pointy-evil-elf-planet!"

"Svartalfheim…", Thor corrected her without taking his eyes of Frigga who had started filling a little bucket with sand.

"_Gesundheit_!" Jane answered sarcastically. She took Thor's face in her hands and forced him to look at her.  
"Really, Thor, you're the last one I expected to be such a worried father!"

"I agree with Jane Foster, my son!" a low voice suddenly sounded over the playground. Thor and Jane looked up bewilderedly. They both reorganized the voice, but never expected to hear it here, off all places. Thor's eyes grew big.

"Father?" he said with disbelief. Jane, who realised how close she was standing to Thor, not to mention the fact that Odin probably had witnessed everything that had happened during the last minutes, quickly let go of Thor's face and took a step back.

A huge smile covered Thor's face. He stepped forward and bowed his head.  
"Father! What brings you here?"

Loki smiled in exactly the same way Odin always used to.  
"Heimdall told me about my beautiful grandchild and now, after all these years, I want to see and meet her…"

Thor looked at his father in amazement. Jane looked at the Allfather feeling more ashamed than ever!

"I wanted to come sooner, but I think that she wouldn't have understood…" Loki continued, now looking past Thor at the little girl who was playing in the sandpit without noticing what was going on.

"Of course father…" Thor finally answered.

Loki smiled and looked at Jane.  
"Don't be ashamed, Jane Foster. It's my son who should be ashamed of himself…" he said friendly. Jane managed to smile, but she couldn't find her voice to speak. Loki didn't pay attention to her and turned to Thor again, a rather serious expression covering Odin's face.

"Didn't I brought you up showing you the dangers of the real world, my son? It made you strong and a true leader…"

Thor smiled and raised his eyebrows.  
"If you're here to ask me again to take the throne, my answer hasn't changed, father."

Loki tried to make Odin look surprised, but it seemed the Allfather wasn't really capable of doing that.  
"It was worth trying anyway…but enough about us, my son…" he continued. Loki turned back to Jane and took her hand.  
"I believe I need to congratulate you both with your marriage…Welcome to the family Jane Foster!" the young king said while softly kissing Jane's hand in the same way Thor had done the first time they met.

Jane didn't know what to say, so she grinned rather stupidly and stuttered:  
"Thank you, sir…, I mean Sire! I mean Odin… Allf.."

Loki smiled reassuring.  
"No need to be nervous miss… You make my son happy, that is something I did not accomplish…"

"Father…", Thor started, but Loki interrupted him.

"Not another word! Enough talking. I want to see my grandchild!" he said in excitement. Thor and Jane glanced at each other. They didn't need any words to understand each other… Why not?

"We named her Frigga, father…", Thor explained while escorting Loki towards the sandpit.

A sudden sad look appeared on Loki's face. He didn't need to fake his grieve for Frigga's death.  
"An excellent name… I am sure she is a beautiful as her grandmother…"

Thor and Loki walked in silence until they reached the sandpit. Frigga didn't notice their presence and kept playing happily in the sand while singing a funny song. Again Loki felt a familiar pain in his heart, but he ignored it.

The young girl was busy building something. Next to her Loki could see a pile of little puppets, all starring to the sky with an empty glare in their black eyes.

"Frigga, sweetheart," Thor started nervously, "there's someone I would like you to meet…"

The young girl turned around while brushing her long, golden hair out of her face using her in sand covered hands. Her eyes first met Thor's before she fixed on the old, weird looking man next to her father. Behind the two men she saw her mother casting meaningful looks. Frigga clapped her hands together to get rid of the sand and tried to smile.

"Good day sir….", she said silently. Thor smiled.

"Frigga, remember the stories mummy and I used to tell you?"

Loki smirked. _Mummy…_ he thought in disgust. No one seemed to notice his behaviour.

Thor kneeled in front of his daughter.  
"All the stories about Lady Sif and the Worriers Three?"

A big smile appeared on the little girl's face and she nodded.  
"Yes! Daddy!" she called out happily.

_Daddy… Please! _Loki was trying hard not to show any emotion. He was Odin now and Odin always looked like a boring, emotionless, senile liar!

"You remember what I told you about my, our, family?" Thor continued.

Frigga nodded again. She casted a swift look on the old man before her.

"Well then, Frigga, I would like you to meet The Allfather! Odin, King of Asgard and my father", Thor finished. He turned around and looked Loki in the eyes.  
"Father, this is Frigga…"

Frigga's eyes grew big. Before anyone could stop her, she ran forward and threw her little arms around Loki's legs. Loki froze. Never, ever, had anyone hugged him, except for his mother, but that was a long, long time ago…

"Grandpa!" The little girl shouted.

Thor who saw his father freeze on spot, understood that Odin wasn't used to this kind of affection. The God of Thunder quickly pulled his daughter away from his father. Frigga looked startled. What had she done wrong?

"I'm sorry, father, she didn't mean…" Thor tried to explain, but Loki who had quickly adapted to the situation, just smiled.

"No need to apologize, my son. I like her enthusiasm. I see she got that from you…"

Thor seemed to relax and turned to his daughter. The little girl didn't know what was going on and was almost crying. Again, Loki took his chance. What better way to gain Thor's trust. He kneeled next to Thor, making sure he didn't do it too fast. He was an old, cracking man after all…  
"Don't be frightened, child, you did nothing wrong… do not cry."

Frigga almost seemed convinced so Loki put in his final card.  
"If you show me that beautiful smile of yours once more, you can hold my sceptre for a while… I'm sure your father told you all about it's magical powers…" he whispered mysteriously. Frigga smiled and nodded.

"Did you really defeated the whole frost giant's army with it?", the young girl whispered in excitement.  
Auw! Frigga had touched a week spot… For a moment Loki almost forgot what he was doing. All he wanted was to wipe that filthy liar, Thor, clean of the earth, but he managed to keep calm.

Loki came closer and snapped his fingers.  
"Just like that!" he answered.

Frigga starred at him in trance. Her bright eyes fixed on the golden staff Loki was holding in his right hand. Without further notice Loki handed the sceptre to the little girl. Frigga almost lost grip on the heavy thing, but she just managed to keep it upright. Thor looked at his girl in concern.

"Are you sure it's safe?" he asked cautiously.

Loki got back on his feet and nodded.  
"She doesn't know how to use it, so yes, it's entirely safe!"

"All right then…" Thor said silently.

"What happened to you, my son? When you grew up you did not want to do anything else then fighting. Defeating every enemy was your biggest dream!"

Thor smiled at his father.  
"I'm sorry, father, but I think that's exactly the problem."

A confused frown appeared on the Allfather's face.

"I grew up, knowing every danger out there. I've seen death and suffering. I've seen what's out there, father. I was there when my own mother died and I saw my brother die while he was protecting me and the women I love…"

Thor waited a few seconds. Deep sorrow spread over his face. Even Loki couldn't help showing a sign of pain. He still blamed Thor for Frigga's death. If he and that stupid old idiot hadn't locked him away, Loki would have been able to save his mother's life. But also the fact that Thor still mourned him, awoke a new feeling inside the young king's chest. It almost felt like… guilt… No! That wasn't possible! Loki ignored it. Meanwhile Thor went on with his story.

"I just don't want all that for her, father. I want her to be happy and safe from danger and my past."

Loki nodded.  
"I do not understand you entirely, but I respect your decision, my son. I just want to spent some time with my grandchild, that's all I will ever ask from you."

Thor looked at his daughter. Frigga was running around the sandpit, waving with the golden sceptre.  
"Of course, father. I think she already likes you by the way…" he answered.

Loki looked at the child and nodded.  
"Well, she does like the sceptre… maybe one day she'll become queen…" Loki cautiously added. He knew he was taking a risk, mentioning Asgard so soon. But on the other hand: if Thor declined the offer now, Loki would be able to cover it up easily.

Thor smirked. He had had the feeling his father would start talking about Asgard. But he had made his decision a long time ago.  
"I am truly sorry, father, but I will stay here on Earth with Jane. Frigga will grow up here. Nevertheless, I keep to my word: If Asgard or any of the nine realm ever need me, I will be there to help!"

Loki pretended to be a bit disappointed. In a way he was, though. He now knew it would be harder to convince Thor into coming to Asgard. But that were problems for later. Maybe if he gained Thor's trust a bit more – through Frigga of course – maybe he could get his brother to open the Bifrost for him in the end.

"It was worth trying…" Loki said with a grin on Odin's face.  
"Forget what I said. I am here to get to know my grandchild and to spent some time with my family. You must understand, my son, you are the only family I have left in the whole universe…"

There! A frown of compassion appeared on Thor's face. One step closer again!

"Of course, father", Thor said silently.

Suddenly Jane appeared.  
"Thor, darling, can you help me for a moment. I lost my contact over there and I can't find it…", Jane said innocently while throwing meaningful looks at her husband. Loki pretended not to see.

Thor frowned and nodded.  
"Father," he started, "would you mind to keep an eye on Frigga, we won't be long…"

Loki turned around and pretended to be surprised.  
"Of course! Don't you worry! Go and find your contact-thing…"

Jane didn't wait for anything else. She pulled Thor away from the scene until they disappeared behind a turn.  
Loki sighed. That was officially the lamest excuse he'd ever heard in his whole life!

"That was officially the lamest excuse I've heard in my whole life!" Thor shouted between clenched teeth. "You don't even have contacts! What's this all about anyway?"

Jane looked over Thor's shoulder to make sure Odin wouldn't see them.  
"I'm sorry!" she whispered. "I couldn't think of anything else. It always works in the movies!"

Thor raised his eyebrows. Jane sighed.  
"All right! It's just… couldn't you warn me. That's your dad over there! The same dad who didn't really like me the first time… remember. That wasn't what I would call a good first impression!"

Thor smirked.  
"Seriously? You're still making fuss about that? He did and still does like you. He just has his own way of showing it…"

"Maybe, but still, you could have warned me… He scared the hell out of me!"

"I didn't know he was coming! It's not like we got cell phones on Asgard…"

Jane frowned.  
"Well, my cell phone worked on pointy-evil-elf planet… no denying that…"

"I'm sorry, but we don't usually have portals between worlds like that… It kind of interferes with the reach…", Thor answered sarcastically. "And by the way, you still haven't told me who Richard is?"

"Who cares!" Jane shouted frustrated. "And then there's another thing: tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm quite sure my daughter is playing with a sceptre that can kill armies on its own!"

Thor smiled and took Jane in his arms.  
"That sceptre is completely harmless! Only one who knows how to use it, can use it as a weapon. Don't worry, Frigga is no danger…"

"I hope not…", Jane whispered against Thor's chest. Suddenly she saw something in the corner of her eye. Something shiny was coming their way. Thor looked up in surprise.

"My prince…" a voice sounded.

Loki walked over to the sandpit, to Frigga. She had put down the sceptre and was playing in the sand again. Loki kneeled next to her. Frigga seemed to be working on some kind of… thing. Little piles of sand were spread through the sandpit. For a moment Loki forgot who he was and before he could stop himself, he heard the words coming out of his mouth…

"What is that!" he asked in a really Odin unlikely way.

Frigga looked up from her work. A scowl appeared on her pretty face.  
"It's… it's a castle…"she stuttered.

Loki immediately understood he had said something stupid.  
"Of course!" he tried. "A castle, can you show me around?" he asked in his most friendly voice he could manage.

A smile formed on Frigga's lips. She picked up a doll from the pile next to here and showed it to Loki.  
"This is Daddy! He is the King of the castle!" she said while putting the doll in the sand in front of what should be the door. Loki had to try hard not to rip the doll out of the girl's hands. Thor… king…

Frigga went on. She picked up a second doll. This time it was a woman.  
"That's mommy, she's the queen!" the little girl explained. She put the doll next to the first one.  
"And this," Frigga said while picking up a little doll with a funny pink dress, "this is me! The princess!" Frigga put the little princess doll with the other two dolls.  
"I can play the whole day! And I have lots of friends. They're all princes and princesses and knights! Even the girls can be warriors!" the little girl continued while placing all the other dolls everywhere around the piles of sand.

Loki looked at the sandpit. He just had to ask! He couldn't stop himself!  
"What about your daddy's brother? Where's he?" Loki asked. Frigga looked confused.

"Brother?" she asked.

Loki immediately understood Thor had never told Frigga about him… Not that he really cared, but why… A few minutes ago he seemed to care about him, but still, he had never mentioned him in any of the stories… And what about the Battle of New York? What did he tell her about that.  
Loki had to think quickly.  
"No, no, forget what I said. It wasn't even his real brother… just forget about it, child…" he said. Frigga still looked a bit confused.

"My name is Frigga…", she said eventually.

Loki nodded and smiled.  
"Of course, Frigga! My apologies…"

The little girl laughed. It remained silent for a moment.

"Where're mummy and daddy?" Frigga asked.

Loki felt sick. This _mummy and daddy-_stuff was starting to annoy him. He looked around.  
"Good question. Let's find out, shall we… Your mother said she had lost her contact, maybe we can help searching!"

Frigga jumped to her feet and handed Loki the sceptre. Together they walked toward the corner facing the rest of the playground.

"Do you have a big castle on Asgard?" Frigga suddenly asked. Loki looked down at the girl hopping next to him.

"Oh yes, I've got a really big one! Almost as big as the one you build today!"

Frigga smiled.  
"And are there any princesses?"

Loki's smile faded.  
"No, not really, not anymore…", he said quietly.

Frigga frowned.  
"Then you need one! Can I be the princess?"

Thor looked up. Before him stood three Asgardian guards. All in shining armour.

"My prince!" the leader repeated.

Before he could say anything else, Thor stepped forward.  
"What are you doing here?" he asked. The guards bowed.

"The Captain send us. He wanted to check if our King was all right."

"Your King?" Thor asked. "Didn't he tell you where he was going?"

The guards shook their heads. Thor looked confused.

"My father never leaves like that! He must have told the Captain where he was going…"

The guards looked startled. For a moment they looked at each other. Thor noticed it.  
"What?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"Your father, Sire?" the leader asked.

"Yes my father! The Allfather! Your King!" Thor shouted. Some people started to throw angry glares at them.

"My apologies, my prince, but we are here on behalf of King Loki…"

Thor wanted to answer, but the words got stuck in his throat. He stared at the guards. The three men didn't know what to do. Thor looked at Jane, to make sure she had heard the same thing he did. The expression of disbelief on her face conformed.

"What?" Thor finally said. "Loki died… I was there… I told father…", he stuttered.

The guards looked at their prince in disbelief.  
"My prince, the Allfather gave the throne to prince Loki, your brother, five years ago…"

"What? But…" Thor tried, but he couldn't think of anything to say. His thoughts were racing through his head. This couldn't be true! He saw Loki die! His brother had died in his arms! He never made it back to Asgard!

Slowly the pieces found their place. Thor started to understand. It had all been a trick. Loki had tricked him, again!

An enormous joy filled his body, but only to be put aside by the uncontrollable rage that followed. Once again, he had thought his brother dead! And once again he had returned!

"Where is my father now?" he asked in a whisper.

The guard who could detected the rage in his prince's words, answered cautiously.  
"No one knows for sure, Sire. He left right after prince Loki had been crowned king. They say he has been traveling the nine reals and beyond ever since…"

Thor nodded and looked at Jane. They didn't need words to express their thought's.

Suddenly Loki, still disguised as Odin, appeared behind Thor.  
"We'll see about that…", he said to Frigga, before looking up at the rest.

The guards froze.  
"My King!" the leader said before kneeling down.  
But it weren't the guards Loki saw first. Thor was staring at him with a weird kind of look in his eyes. A mixture of hatred, sadness, betrayal and so much more.

Loki didn't have to know what had happened. One look at the situation was enough.

Thor suppressed the desire to kill the man in front of him. He couldn't think anymore. He couldn't speak.. the only thing that came out of his mouth was:  
"Loki…"

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So... What now...

Let me know what you think!

;) x


	6. Chapter 5

Sorry guys, this is a short one, but I'll try uploading as soon as possible... ;) ENJOY!

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_**Chapter 5**_

A rather awkward silence filled the air. Especially the Asgardian guards who had no idea what to think, looked quit scared and confused. One them thought his prince had lost his mind. The other one feared he had looked past his current king, King Loki, and their leader understood Odin was in fact Loki, but he couldn't think of any reason why Thor wouldn't know that too.

Loki looked around him. From the moment he had heard his name, hundreds of escape plans had formed in his mind, but most of them resulted in killing someone… So he tried to do the most obvious thing he could do: talk himself out of the situation.

"My son is long gone…" he said while forcing a painful expression on Odin's face. Loki was hoping at least someone would stop staring at him, but Thor's bright blue eyes were still fixed on him.

Loki could see the God of Thunder was shaking with anger. Jane Foster was staring at him as well. Her eyes were filled with confusion, but above all fear. She seemed to be waiting for Thor to say something, but he wasn't capable of saying anything at the moment.

"Frigga, come here…", Jane suddenly said in a strong voice.

The little girl who was still standing next to Loki had no idea what was going on. Why was everyone starring at her grandpa?

"Frigga! Come. Here! Now!" Jane said again. "Get away from that man!"

Frigga looked up at her grandpa. A sudden angry expression covered her beautiful face. She grabbed hold of Loki's arm and shook her head.  
"No!" she said confidently. "I'm going to be a princess!"

Loki shivered when the girl touched him again. His first reaction was to push her away, but when he heard her speak, he was paralysed. The girl trusted him!

Thor seemed to have found his voice.  
"Frigga! Listen to your mother and step back!"

Frigga pulled herself closer to Loki.  
"No!" she simply said.

Thor fixed his eyes on Odin again.  
"What did you do Loki!" he hissed.

Loki started to understand he wouldn't get out this. For a moment he considered to just take the child and use her to make Thor open the Bifröst. Maybe he would even stay on Earth if he used Frigga as a bargain. But for some reason the young king could not do it. Maybe it was because she was named after his mother and made him think of her so much. Maybe it was because she was the only one who seemed to trust him. Or maybe it was just because Thor immediately concluded that Loki had done something to her, or was he referring to what he had done to the real Odin…

While Loki tried to keep an expression of confusion on his face, Frigga didn't seem to change her mind.

"Not Loki! It's Odin! The Allfather from the stories!" she cried out.

The parents on the rest of the playground stopped paying attention to their kids playing and started looking to the weird scene near the end of the playground.

"Why do you keep calling grandpa Loki! Who's Loki!" Frigga yelled at her dad.

Something broke inside the young king's mind. He'd had enough of this. The confused expression faded and was replaced by Loki's own creepy grin, something that looked really out of place on Odin's face.

"Yes, Daddy, who's Loki?" he asked in his own voice, but still disguised as the Allfather. Everyone on the scene looked struck back. The guards – who were still kneeling down kept throwing looks between Thor and Odin… Well, Loki… Odin… Loki…. Odin with Loki's voice.

Jane and Thor both shivered. Even though they had been certain Odin was in fact Loki, hearing his voice conformed their worst fears. Frigga on the other hand heard the sudden change in her grandpa's voice and looked up. The evil sneer on Odin's face made her step back. What was going on? Who was Loki? And who was this man? A second ago he had been her grandfather and now was everybody staring at him in fear.

"Frigga, come over here!" Jane whispered. This time the little girl obeyed without hesitation. She ran to her mother and hid behind her back. She looked at her father and shivered. She had never seen him so angry. This was no anger anymore, this was pure hatred!

Loki knew he was being a fool, but he just couldn't take it anymore. What use did it have to keep lying. There was no going back now.  
"Well, brother, why don't you tell her who Loki is?" he went on. "I'm sure she would like to know everything about me…About what you did…"

"How dare you!" Thor shouted. He stretched out his arm in order to summon Mjölnir. At the same time the three guards got to their feet at drew their swords, ready to protect their king. Loki immediately reacted. He held out his sceptre and touched Thor's out stretched arm.

"Oh no, you don't!" he said in a strong voice. Thor moved his arm away from the sceptre like it had burned him. A moment later a green flash lid up the scene. Loki stood in front of his brother, a serious expression covering his face. Slowly he lifted the sceptre and put in down next to him. His eyes fixed on the guards.  
"Weapons down!" he demanded.

The confused guards didn't react. They had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"Now!" Loki cried out.

The guards obeyed and stepped back. Loki looked around. They were drawing to much attention to themselves and now he was visible again, in the middle of Central Park, in New York City, that was not really useful.

The young king closed his eyes a couple of seconds. A green glance formed a transparent wall between them and the rest of the playground. The people on the other end of the wall blinked confusedly, but shook their heads and turned away.

Loki brought his attention back to the people standing in front of him. Once again, he forced himself into being the king he had been the past five years. If he let his usual self handle a situation like this, someone would definitely get hurt…

Tension filled the air. Thor and Loki looked each other in the eyes, both determined to keep up the eye contact.

"Sire?"

One of the guard had found his courage and he had the feeling he wasn't supposed to whiteness this. Therefor he decided that he better asked for orders before Loki would blame them for being there.  
The young king nodded. He knew he had his chance to go back with the guards, back to Asgard. Heimdall would probably open the Bifröst for them. At least, Loki hoped he would… but on the other hand… What good would it do? Thor would only follow him. And even though he had been king for the past five years, Loki was certain the Asgardians would follow Thor blindly and believe whatever he said.

No, it was better to stay here. It was time to tell Thor the truth. Loki now realised he had been procrastinating this moment. If it weren't for Heimdall, Loki would probably never had told Thor, even though he had promised himself to do it.

Loki closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had the feeling he was doing something tremendously stupid, but what choice did he have…

"You three will go back to Asgard. Tell the Captain I am on Midgard. Tell him he will be king a little while longer until I return. Yet, if anything happens while I'm gone, I demand to be informed and brought back to Asgard immediately. The Captain will not do anything without my approval. Is that understood?"

The guards nodded and saluted.  
"Yes, sire. We'll do as you commanded. We'll look forward to your return."

"Very well! Oh, and one more thing: no more patrols to Midgard. It won't be necessary."

"Yes my king!" the leader answered. The three men bowed one more time. They turned around and disappeared between the trees.

Nobody said a word. Everybody was waiting for the other to say something. It was Jane who opened her mouth first.

"You…", she stuttered, not able to hide the fear in her voice. "You are dead… You died! I was there…You definitely died."

Loki looked at her and smiled. "Accept I did not die… I'm surprised you two even believed I actually died on Svartalfheim. I did made it look like Thor's hand was cut of only a few minutes before…"

"Shut up!" Thor interrupted.

Loki slowly fixed his eyes on his brother. Thor seemed to be searching for words so Loki took his chance.

"You don't speak like that to your King!"

"You are not my King! You will never be a king!" Thor immediately shouted.

Loki raised his eyebrows.  
"Weren't you listening, brother?" he asked with fake innocence. Thor didn't answer.  
"Surprise!" Loki shouted.

That was enough for Thor. The God of Thunder stretched out his arm once more. Loki immediately stopped him by using his sceptre. He locked his eyes on Thor's. Neither of them moved a muscle.

"Jane, take Frigga and go home. I won't be long."

Jane Foster looked between the two brothers for a moment. She was scared to death and knew that this was no time to argue with her husband. She picked up her paralysed daughter and made her way through the playground as fast as possible.

When Jane had disappeared from their view, Loki spoke again. A serious look spread across his face. No more playing around.  
"Before you start beating me to moon, stop being a foul and think for a moment."  
Loki waited until Thor was calmed down a bit before lowering his sceptre. Thor didn't say a word.  
"I've been King of Asgard ever since you left to live on Midgard. Ask yourself. In those five years, have you ever heard anything bad… Has Asgard suffered during my reign? No! And neither have the other realms. I am a good king! The Asgardians respect me!"

"Oh yes, because you're such an honest king… Crowned because of a lie…"

"It was my birth right! You said it yourself! I understood the meaning of ruling better then you did!" Loki cried out.

Thor laughed, but there was nothing happy about the laugh.  
"Then I was mistaken…" he answered softly. Loki's eyes turned dark, but Thor wasn't finished yet.  
"So it was you… I thought I was talking to father… but it was you…"

"Odin was blinded by hate and grief. He was ready to sacrifice every Asgardian. Every last bit of Asgardian blood. Where would that have brought us. Nowhere! Think of the suffering he would have brought to the nine realms. To men, women and children. Is that what you wanted? Someone needed to stop that foul, but it seemed only Jotunheimers were capable of doing that…"

Thor smirked.  
"You still don't get it do you?" he said. "You may've been born on Jotunheim, but you were raised on Asgard. You lived your life on Asgard. Not on Jotunheim. You're as much an Asgardian as I am, whether you like it or not."

Loki's knuckles whitened around the sceptre while he tried to withhold himself from killing Thor.  
"Believe whatever you desire, brother. It doesn't change anything. I am still the only one who has the right to be king! You know that!"

Thor took one step closer to his brother.  
"Oh yes, by killing your father!" he shouted.

"He was never my father!" Loki cried out. Both men were breathing heavily into each other's faces. Teeth clenched, eyes piercing…

"Why are you here, Loki!" Thor hissed after a couple of minutes. "And don't give me that crap about meeting Frigga!"

Loki stepped back. He observed his brother a couple of seconds before letting out a loud sigh.  
"I need you to come back with me to Asgard!"

Thor looked bewildered.  
"And why would I do that?" he asked suspiciously. Loki opened his mouth to answer, but then realised he hadn't thought about a proper excuse. Thor, who knew Loki long enough to know when his brother owned up, saw his chance. A small grin spread across his handsome face.  
"No pretext, brother…"

Loki closed his mouth. Whatever he came up with, Thor would know it was a lie and the God of Thunder began to understand the situation.

"You are stuck here! Aren't you?" Thor continued. "You are stuck and you need me to get back! I wonder why…"

Loki scowled.  
"No idea where you got that idea, but it's ridiculous!"

"Oh really… Go on then, Oh Great King! Open the Bifröst here and now. If you do it, I promise, I won't follow you to Asgard."

Loki clenched his teeth. He knew Thor was bluffing – typical – but he also knew Heimdall wouldn't open the Bifröst. Not until he had told Thor the whole truth.

Thor smiled.  
"I won't open the Bifröst for you in a thousand years!"

"Asgard had no king!" Loki shouted back. "They need a real king!"

"Indeed they do!" Thor cried out. "Even the Captain is a better king then you! You've lied, killed… Innocent people have suffered because of you! Because you wanted a throne! I will not open the Bifröst until you have proven to be a king! Until I decide if Asgard and the other realms deserves you or not!"

"The people of Asgard already follow and respect me…." Loki started but Thor interrupted almost immediately.

"But I do not!"

Loki went silent. Thor was breathing heavily. Slowly he made his way towards Loki.

"I thought you dead. I mourned you... twice! For five years I've been blaming myself for your death, for mother's… How do you expect to me to trust you…"

Loki laughed.  
"All right…we'll do it your way. You just have to understand one thing, dear brother: they won't take this easily back home… if they come for me, you and your precious family will be in big trouble!"

Thor smirked.  
"Oh I don't think so… I'm almost certain that they don't know the truth either… do they, dear brother…"

Loki's smile disappeared and Thor took a step back.

"What now?" Loki asked after a short silence.

Thor looked at him in confusion.  
"What 'What now'?"

Loki sighed.  
"You want me to stay here! Where am I supposed to go? In case you didn't notice; people probably don't really like me here."

Thor raised his eyebrows.  
"You're not staying with me, if that's what you're suggesting."

"Oh, so I'm left to live on the streets, like a dog!" Loki said with his most innocent expression covering his face.

Thor smirked once more.  
"I'm sure His Highness can find some 'suitable' accommodation."

"Of course…" Loki answered nonchalantly. "I'll just walk through the streets of New York, being His Royal Highness. Before you know it, you've got S.H.I.E.L.D arresting me. Next thing we know is S.H.I.E.L.D investigating that sweet, little daughter of yours. I'm sure they're really interested in her…"

Thor's smile disappeared. He seemed to be overthinking the possibilities. After a couple of seconds, he turned towards Loki.  
"All right, you win, Loki. You'll stay with me, but make sure you understand one thing: if you hurt my family, or anyone else, I will kill you. King or no king! Believe it or not, Loki, but you are replaceable!"

"I must say, if I would get money for every time someone threatened to kill me, I would have been able to buy Asgard and the nine realms…"

"You better take this seriously, Loki! One wrong move, one threat…"

"Yes, yes, I get it: you'll kill me!" Loki interrupted.

"One more thing! You'll be in disguise at all times!"

Loki sighed. "Why? Afraid your girlfriend would fall for me?"

Thor clenched his teeth. Loki was starting to get on his nerves. One more stupid, rude remark and…

"Oh right! How's Jane's cooking by the way? Maybe I should live on the streets after all…"  
Thor closed his eyes. He felt the anger racing through his body.  
_Enough! _he thought.

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Sorry, I immediately start working on the next one ... :)

Please review! And of course: Enjoy! ;) x


	7. Chapter 6

I am sooooo sorry it took so long guys... I forgot to upload before I went on holiday xp I hope you don't all hate me now ;)

Anyway, enjoy!

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_**Chapter 6**_

"Mommy, who's Loki?"

Jane, who was pacing around the room, throwing anxious glares out of the window, looked at her daughter. The little girl sat down on the sofa, holding a mug of hot chocolate (which wasn't really hot anymore now). She had been in shock when she and her mother had reached their apartment, but is seemed her worst fear had disappeared, making place for a hundred questions now racing through her mind.

Jane groaned. Where was Thor? What was happening? For all she knew Loki had killed her husband! Would he do that?

Frigga was still shivering so Jane set down next to her daughter and tried to comfort her, but because she was shivering herself, that didn't really help.  
"It doesn't matter, sweetheart. He's of no importance…", Jane said while trying to stop her voice from trembling.

"No!" Frigga shouted, pushing away her mother's arm.  
"He is! Isn't he! He called daddy 'brother' and he said he was king! I thought my grandpa was The Allfather, the King of Asgard! Why…"

"Enough about that man, Frigga!" Jane suddenly shouted.

Frigga, who was already quite upset, couldn't take it anymore. She started crying and dropped the mug on the floor. The mug broke and the chocolate spread over the carpet.  
"You… you're scarring m…me, mu…mummy!" Frigga stuttered between two sobs.

Jane understood she had gone too far, but she was so upset herself. So scared. Jane threw her arms around her daughter.  
"I'm so sorry, honey. I didn't mean to…"

"B…But why w…won't you t...tell me then?" Frigga sobbed.

"Because I don't know it either. I don't know what I can tell you and what not because I'm not sure what's the truth and what not… "

Frigga pushed herself away from her mother so she could see her face again.  
"And what about daddy, does he know?"

Jane took her daughter's face in her hands. "When daddy gets home, I will talk to him."

"And then you'll tell me?"

Jane bit her lip. What was she supposed to say now? She and Thor had promised themselves to ban Loki from their lives. They wouldn't tell Frigga anything about Loki and his attack on New York. Therefore they had left them out of the stories and never mentioned his existence at all. But those promises were made when Loki was still dead. Things were different now. There was no denying it: whatever happened next, Jane knew she had to tell her daughter something. So she nodded and whispered: "Yes, we will…"

Jane hugged her daughter one more time before getting up from the couch. Her eyes fixed on the mess on the floor. She sighed and tried to smile.  
"I think I'm going to clean this mess up first. You relax. Daddy will be home soon."

Frigga smiled and watched her mother disappearing into the kitchen. She looked around the room. Frigga was surprised everything seemed so… normal. She had always known her family was a weird one, but after what she had witnessed today, she expected to see the world differently. Turned out, nothing had changed at all.

Frigga sighed disappointed. Her eye fell on a small book on the table next to the cough. It was a cartoon from _The Heroes of New York. _ This one specifically was about the Hulk who turned out to be Frigga's favourite. Not because he had the coolest powers of the lot – to be honest her favourite was of course her dad in that area – but because she really liked Bruce Banner. He was one of the nicest man she had ever met and even with his 'problem' he was always there for her to make her smile again.  
Frigga didn't like what these so called _Marvel_-people did with his character, but she still loved to read the adventures of the Hulk. Not that she actually read the book, she couldn't read that well yet. She just looked at the pictures and made up her own stories.

The front door slammed shut. Frigga looked up from the comic book. She recognised her father's footsteps in the hall, followed by another pair of feet. Jane was suddenly standing in front of her daughter. Frigga looked past her mother's legs and watched when her father and another strange man entered the room. A green glance covered the man's body. He disappeared and the man called Loki appeared instead. Jane shivered, but Frigga wasn't paying attention to that. The first thing she had noticed was that Loki's face was covered in blood. He kept touching his nose while trying to make the hot, red fluid stop flowing out of it. The whole time he kept throwing angry glares at his brother.

Jane's attention on the other hand, was immediately caught by her husbands in blood covered right hand.  
"Oh, honey, your hand!" she cried out.

"Oh, honey, your hand!" Loki repeated sarcastically while letting go of his nose to see if the blood was still flowing. Turned out it was…  
"That is my blood you see, woman!" the young king continued.

"Shut it, Loki!" Thor shouted looking at his hand.

"My name is Jane!" Jane said with a stern look on her face.

"Good for you…" Loki muttered.

Jane's eyes fixed on the blood dripping out Loki's nose. Dripping on her freshly washed carpet! She sighed and looked at her husband.  
"Thor, dear, was that really necessary?" she asked while gesturing to Loki. The God of Mischief turned to his brother and put his most innocent expression on his face. Something that looked even better because he was squinting his nose.  
"Yes, dear, was it really necessary…" Loki repeated again with high pitched voice. Even more sarcastically then before.

Thor smiled. "Yes, honey, it was necessary and I said "Shut it!", Loki!"  
Loki rolled with his eyes and started inspecting the rest of the room.

"But why? That is an expensive carpet!" Jane shouted.

"He insulted you and your cooking skills, Jane…" Thor answered softly while Jane slowly made her way towards her husband.

SMASH!

"Ow!" Loki cried out in surprise. "Why did you hit me now!"

Jane didn't answer. She didn't need to. Her eyes said enough.

"Seriously! What kind of a mother are you! Hitting an already injured man while your daughter is present!"

SMASH!

Loki almost tripped.  
"All right! All right… No need to get physical!" he groaned.

A silent giggle echoed through the room. The God of Mischief looked past Jane. His eyes fell on Frigga who quickly tried to hide her smiling face.

Loki sniffed.  
"You think it's funny, girl!" he asked, surprised about how 'friendly' he sounded.

Apparently, the two parents didn't share his opinion. Jane's face turned red while she was obviously getting ready to hit Loki in the face one more time, but Thor was faster.  
The young king didn't even have the time to defend himself. Before he knew it, Thor had raised his fist and slammed it hard on Loki's face, allowing a new portion of blood to flood the carpet. Frigga screamed while Loki was thrown against the wall.

"Thor!" Jane screamed, but her husband wasn't listening. He stepped forward and pulled Loki up from the ground.

"You don't speak to her like that! Not to my wife and not to my daughter! Understand!" he shouted furiously.

The God Of Mischief didn't seem impressed at all. He tried to focus while bringing his hands to his nose again.  
"For God's sake! Not you too!" he said. "Such a great parent you are!"

Thor raised his hand to hit again, but Jane stopped him.

"Oh no you don't!" she said sternly.  
"No more blood on my carpet! Don't you see he playing with you!"

Thor let go of his brother, breathing heavily.  
"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that he deserves a proper beating!"

Jane nodded.  
"I'm not saying that… But, really no more blood on my carpet. It was a gift from Darcy, all the way from London."

"Damn it, man! I think you broke it!" Loki suddenly squealed, holding his nose with both hands. Thor and Jane couldn't keep a slight grin of their faces.

"Oh, please, you'll be fine within five minutes!" Thor said angrily.

Jane sighed. "You two be nice until I get back!" she said before turning to her daughter. "Frigga, come with me please…"

The little girl jumped from the sofa. She wasn't sure how to feel. At first she had been scared of the man called Loki and even a little bit of her parents. But afterwards she started to enjoy the scene before her.

Frigga followed her mother to the kitchen. Jane opened a cupboard and pulled out two towels. She turned to he daughter and kneeled before her.

"Honey, you would do me a great favour if you would go to your room and stay there for some time…"

Frigga's smile disappeared.  
"But you promised!" she said quietly.

Jane closed her eyes.  
"I know, honey, but things are a bit complicated right now. I promise: we will tell you everything you want to know…"

Frigga thought about that for a moment and nodded. Her mother smiled and softly kissed her forehead.

"Thank you, dear…" she said before getting up and walking out the kitchen towards the living room. Frigga followed in her wake.

When Jane entered the living room and she had seen her daughter disappear to her room, she casted another look on the scene. It was even worse then she initially thought. There was not only blood on the carpet, but also on the floor, on the walls and Thor's clothes. She sighed and walked over to her husband. She softly touched his in blood covered hand and started to wipe of the blood.

"Sure, don't you worry about me, I'll be just fine over here…" Loki groaned just before a towel hit him in the face.

"You don't have to be so nice to him, Jane…" Thor said, enjoying the sight of his brother wrestling with the towel.

"I'm not being nice to him, he just keeps dripping on my carpet!" Jane answered while rubbing away the last bit of blood on Thor's hands. She looked up and locked her eyes on his. He nodded.

"If you want your privacy, you can always just say it out loud…" Loki suddenly said. He had managed to clean up most of the blood with the towel. And was now looking at the couple before him with a bored look in his eyes.

Thor didn't answer. He just turned around and left the room.

Jane came to Loki and looked him strait in the eyes.  
"If you ever threaten my daughter again, I swear you'll wish you were never born!"

Loki raised his eyebrows. "Wauw, that's a new one…" he grinned.  
"Just for your information. I wasn't threatening her. Not in the slightest. But trust me, you'll notice when I do…"

Jane suppressed the desire to slap Loki across the face again.  
"You should be glad Thor is willing to give you a chance…After what I saw, I wouldn't have done the same thing…"

Loki looked surprised. What the hell was she talking about! All right, what he did wasn't really nice (if that was the right way to put it), but it was not like she ever had any reason to care about him.

"Oh, common!" Jane continued. "You really think I didn't recognize you when you came in? You were that pervert from the park!"

Loki closed his eyes and smiled. He hadn't realised he had changed his appearance into the same guy as before.  
"Yes…" he laughed, "that was fun!"

Jane opened her mouth in awe.  
"Fun!" she hissed. "You should be happy I didn't tell Thor! You better not make me change my mind…" she said before turning around to follow her husband, but just before she left the room, she turned around again with a stern look on her face.  
"You don't leave this house unless we tell you to! And try not to burn it down… or you'll find out what happens when I start threatening you…"

Loki smiled his usual smile. "Can't wait…" he said.

Jane casted a creepy and meaningful look on the young king.

Loki sighed.  
"Yes, _Mummy_!" he said sarcastically. Jane took a deep breath and left the room, leaving Loki on his own.

The young king's smile disappeared the moment Jane left the room. Who did she think she was, telling him, the King of Asgard, what to do! She did have a point, though. Thor could have killed him…

Loki looked around. What now? What was he supposed to do in this lousy apartment. How was he going to convince Thor? And how was he going to survive Jane…

Loki sighed. He could at least make himself at home. With another sigh, he sank onto the couch, letting his eye fall on the comic Frigga had left behind. The God of Mischief quickly looked around him, before picking it up.

_The Heroes of New York _he read. Loki pulled up one eyebrow.

_Heroes? _he thought. _Why? For destroying New York… _

Loki sniffed in disgust. He knew that most of the destruction had been because of him and the Chitauri, but he was certain it wouldn't have been necessary if those so called _Avengers_ hadn't intervened.

Loki turned the comic book and read the summery on the back.

_Avengers Assemble! Follow The Marvellous Heroes Of New York on their adventures! Even though they defeated the evil alien Chitauri army, the dangers are still lurking behind every corner! Are Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor: The God of Thunder, Captain America, The Black Widow and Hawkeye ready for it…  
Collect them all! Avengers comics and individual comics are waiting for you!_

Loki shook his head. _Pathetic! _he thought. _ Even these Marvel–people banned me from their stories…_

A sudden prickling sensation covered the young king's body. He had the feeling someone was watching him… Loki dropped the comic and sad face to face with Frigga. The little girl stood by the door, nervously trying to stop her heart from beating so fast.

"What!" Loki called out harshly.

Frigga opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.  
Loki sighed and rolled with his eyes.  
"Don't worry, I can't hurt you, I wouldn't even dare. Your mother would kill me and that would be really awkward…"

Frigga tried to smile, but she was not exactly comfortable with the situation yet.

Loki who was pretending to read the summary again, looked up and raised his eyebrows.  
"Aren't you supposed to be in some sort of extremely secure safe until your parents have decided about my already fucked up fate?" he asked.

Frigga allowed a silent giggle to escape from her lips. She immediately forced the smile of her face.

Loki sneered.  
"Why is it that you like everything that – possibly - results in my doom..."

Frigga didn't answer so Loki went on.  
"But it's not like anyone would care, of course… I'll just sit here and think about a way to convince your dear _papa _that I am a respected king, while everyone else decides how I'm supposed to live my life!" he added sarcastically. The young king casted meaningful look on the little girl before focusing his attention on the comic again, pretending to read it.

"I believe you!" a voice suddenly sounded through the silent room. Loki slowly lowered the comic so he could see Frigga. It took some time for him to understand what the girl had said.

"What did you just say?" he asked not able to keep down the harsh tone in his voice.

Frigga noticed it and shivered, but she had found her courage and took a deep breath.  
"I believe you are a great king!" she repeated.

It remained silent the next couple of seconds. Frigga swallowed. _Would he know his mouth is hanging open like he's a total idiot? _she thought awkwardly.

Loki blinked in surprise and closed his mouth. He cleared his throat.  
"What would you know about it?"

The young king knew he was being rude, and even though he really tried not to, he couldn't help it. Loki could see the little girl was in fact quite scared of him, but she managed to keep herself strong. The young king admired that.

"I was just thinking that those guards… they weren't scared of you and… they listened and… I suppose they… that they respect you… And honestly, I think you… you're a good leader…"

Silence. Loki repeated the girl's words in his head. Again and again…  
He swallowed. This felt… weird… but above all very wrong! A suspicious scowl covered the young king's face.  
"Who told you to say that? Thor? Is this some stupid test!" he asked angrily.

Frigga looked taken back. She blinked confusedly, but when she realised the Asgardian didn't believe her, she frowned and crossed her arms before her chest. How could he! Especially after the trust she had shown towards him!  
"No one told me anything, I just…thought…." The little girl started. Her cheeks turned red when Loki raised one eyebrow and looked at her suspiciously.  
"I just…" she repeated. "I thought you were kind of cool…" Frigga finished awkwardly.

"Coooooool?" Loki repeated. "Why do you think I'm cold?" he asked.

Frigga didn't understand the question at first, but when Loki stupidity became clear, she couldn't keep a big smile of her face. The little girl tried hard not to laugh with the young king.  
"It means you're nice, funny, a pleasant person…" she explained. For a moment she forgot who she was talking to. Just for a couple of seconds Loki almost seemed like a friend.

The young king thought about Frigga's explanation. A frown appeared on his handsome face.  
"That's just stupid. There's nothing funny about being cold! I suppose you've never been on Jotunheim…" he said.

Frigga's eyes grew big. "You've been on Jotunheim!" she whispered in excitement.

"Oh yes, a bit too much, if you ask me…" Loki answered nonchalantly thinking of the times he spent on Jotunheim.

"Cool!" Frigga whispered.

"Oh, you have no idea…" the young king said.

* * *

So that was it... I know it's a weird ending, but I'm having trouble with finding the right way to write everything down. I wanted to give you guys at least something to start with...

Again, SORRY it took so long...

Please review ;)


	8. Chapter 7

Sorry, but I the following chapters aren't written yet, so there's gonna be some time in between uploads

it's a short one, but I hope you enjoy it anyway ;)

* * *

_**Chapter 7**_

A door opened. Frigga's smile disappeared when she heard her parents walking down the hall. She quickly made her way to the kitchen before Thor and Jane entered the living room. Loki, who had no intention of giving her away put on his most bored expression possible.

Jane looker at he husband, not able to hide the slightly nervous look on her face. Thor nodded and waited a few more seconds before he started talking.

"We made a decision, Loki!" he began. "You'll stay here and you won't leave this house unless we tell you to!"

Loki sighed. "I thought we already went through this…" he groaned.

Thor ignored it and continued.  
"You won't use any kind of magic or whatever you want to call your tricks… You don't talk to Frigga and if you say anything wrong against anyone…"

"Yes, yes, I know the drill…" Loki interrupted. He lifted his head from the back of the couch. "Anything else?"

"You'll be in disguise at all times! Inside and outside the house!" Thor continued without paying attention to what Loki had said.

"Wow wow, hold on a sec!" Loki interrupted again. "What happened to: you don't use any magic…"

Thor took a deep breath. Loki was getting on his nerves again. Jane noticed the potential danger and quickly took over.

"If we say you'll be in disguise at all times then you'll listen. For your information: If it were up to me, you would be on the street already!" she said harshly.

The God of Mischief wasn't impressed at all. Loki got on his feet and walked over to Jane.  
"Even if I wanted to give you what you want, it wouldn't work…" he simply said. "For _your _information: using magic to create illusions is quite exhausting. And if you want to prevent me changing into my handsome self in the middle of New York, I propose to change your terms…"

Jane bid her lip and threw an accusatory look at her husband. He should have known that! But Thor just pulled up his shoulders. How was he supposed to know… he never studied magic…

The God of Thunder thought about Loki's words for a couple of seconds. His brother could be lying of course, but why would he do that…  
"All right then… you'll only be in disguise outside the house." Thor finally said. Loki couldn't keep a smug smile of his face. That was the second time today he had managed to let Thor give him what he wanted.

"In short: you keep your mouth shut, no magic, no threads, no insults!" Thor added.

Loki smiled and sat down again.  
"I'm not even here…" he said before closing his eyes and putting his head on the back of the couch.

Thor had the feeling he had to say something more, if only to make sure his arrogant brother didn't end this conversation, but he feared that it would only lead to more fighting. So the God Of Thunder just turned around and walked out of the room.

Jane sighed and made her way to the kitchen. Every piece of her body screamed that this was a big mistake. She had tried to explain her doubts to her husband, but he didn't listen. In fact it wasn't even the event in the park that troubled her. She was more worried that Loki's presence would tear her family apart. Thor wasn't acting like himself either. Jane could feel how he was trying to hide his grief for her and himself, but also for his brother.  
But next to that he was furious with Loki. Jane could see the hatred and betrayal in Thor's eyes growing stronger every second. How much longer until he would break down and only God knew what would happen then…

Jane didn't want to think about it too much. Not that she could… she was too busy worrying about her little girl. Frigga was a very inquisitive girl. They could force Loki not to talk to Frigga, but they couldn't stop their daughter from talking to him…

Jane sighed again while she walked towards the fridge to get herself something to drink. At that moment she realised that she wasn't alone in the kitchen. Frigga tried to escape through the back door, but was stopped by her mother's voice.

"Frigga!" Jane called out. "What are you doing here? I thought I asked you to stay in your room!"

The little girl turned around a little too quickly.  
"I… I was thirsty, Mommy…" she stuttered while her cheeks turned red.

Jane looked at her daughter. This was even worse then she thought…  
"Go to your room!" she said more angrily then she meant to. Frigga quickly disappeared to her room.

Jane closed her eyes and slowly sank on the ground, her back leaning against the fridge.  
A wave of panic formed in her heart. Why was she acting like this? This wasn't her?  
Jane swallowed and held her face in her hands for a couple of seconds. She took deep breath and forced the upcoming tears to go back where they came from. She wasn't going to cry, no matter how scared she was.

She really hadn't mean to scream at her daughter like that. And… she hit Loki...twice … She, Jane Foster, the cool headed scientist, had actually hit someone who was already - just like Loki had said – defenceless. All right, it wasn't the first time, but on Asgard… that was differently. That was for New York, but now…  
And Thor… he seemed furious. How many times had he hit his brother? Jane knew that Gods healed a lot faster than human beings, so that meant that Thor must have hit him more than once on their way to the apartment. How could she be okay with that! Even though it was hard to admit it, Loki was right… what kind of a parent was she…

Why was this happening… Why did Loki had to come down anyway! Honestly, Jane didn't bother if Loki was king or not. At least he let them live in peace…

Didn't Thor see the risks he brought on themselves… Thor wouldn't bring his family in danger like that, would he? Not after the family troubles he went through himself, right? Would Loki dare to hurt anyone? Did family mean nothing to him…

Loki sighed. It had been five minutes since both parents had left him on his own and he was already bored to death… Even his lousy life on Asgard seemed more attractive at the moment. Suddenly the sound of hurried footsteps caught his attention. Loki lifted his head to see Frigga leaving the kitchen. She quickly made her way through the living room - completely ignoring the young king – and ran to her bed room. Loki sniggered. He was starting to like this girl. She was the only one who didn't look at him like he was some damn murderer. Loki sighed. How long was that going to last? Once Frigga would know the truth, things would be different… really different…

Loki shook his head. What the hell was he thinking! What was wrong with him! He had obviously spend too much time on this lousy world. He couldn't give anything about this child… No way!

It was already nine o'clock when Jane realised it was her turn to make dinner. So she quickly baked a simple omelette and set the table. It was then that she realised she had to put an extra plate for Loki. Awkwardly she took another plate and put it, after some hesitation next to Thor's as far away from Frigga's as possible. Jane looked around the table nervously. Everything was in place. Now she had to walk into the living room to ask Loki – The God Of Mischief – if he wanted to have dinner. Jane ran over the idea inside her head. It sounded ridiculous!

Jane took a deep breath and walked into the living room. There she found Loki lying on the couch, eyes closed, feet resting on the pillows. Jane cleared her throat nervously.

"What?" Loki groaned without moving a muscle.

Jane shifted her feet timidly.  
"I just… came to say… that dinner is ready."

Loki opened his eyes in surprise. He hadn't really thought about eating yet. Now that she mentioned it, the young king had to admit he was quite hungry. He turned his head so he could see Jane.

"You're going to give me.. food…" he asked awkwardly.

"Well, we can't let you starve, can we?" Jane answered, happy that she had managed to take the young king by surprise.

"Oh really…" Loki continued while he closed his eyes again.

"Why would we wanne let you starve…" Jane asked before she could stop herself. Loki smiled.

"For starters: you could get rid of me and the potential danger I bring to your family… Secondly: you're afraid I'll hurt your child or kill your husband…" Loki explained.

Jane stared at the young king in astonishment. "How did you… Can you read my mind?" she asked abruptly.

Loki laughed. "That is pathetic!" he said while fixing his eyes on Jane again. "You don't have to be able to read minds to know that… I've seen that look on my mother's face about a thousand times…"

Loki's usual grin disappeared and made place for a serious and sad look. He couldn't believe he'd just said that. Yet, he didn't really regret saying it…

Jane who had been ready to defend her idea of _mindreading_, closed her mouth and swallowed. Even though Thor kept blaming himself for his mother's death, Jane felt responsible too. She had never actually shared her thoughts with anyone, even Thor didn't know. He would only tell her it wasn't her fault, but Jane couldn't keep the idea that she was responsible for Frigga's death out of her head. After all, the Aether had hidden itself inside her body and Frigga had been protecting her. Jane really regretted that she never got to know her mother-in-law a bit more.

Jane had heard Thor talk about Queen Frigga lots of times. About how good she was, how smart, how strong, how courages, … but she never expected Loki, that heartless monster, to actually care about his mother… He didn't care for anyone but himself, right? Only once Jane had heard Loki talk about his mother in a carrying way. That day on Svartalfheim. Thor and Loki had been fighting over who was responsible for Frigga's death, but Jane had never been entirely sure that it hadn't been a dream. She had been in a quite bad condition, after all…

"Oh…" was the only thing Jane could say. She swallowed once more and quickly tried to think of something else, dinner for example.  
"Well… I… I'll go and get the others then…" she stuttered before leaving the room.

_Dinner…_ Loki thought. _Well, this is going to be awkward…_

A few minutes later Thor walked in the living room. He walked over to his brother and pulled Loki's feet of the sofa.

"No feet on the couch!" he simply said to a surprised Loki.

The young king looked up at his brother.  
"Why?" he asked. For once he really had no idea what he had done wrong.

Thor rolled his eyes.  
"Because you're not on Asgard anymore! If Frigga can't put her shoes on the couch, neither can you!"

Loki pulled up his eyebrows and got on his feet. _What a pathetic rule! _he thought while following the family to the kitchen.

Loki said down next to Thor and stared at the plate before him. On Asgard he would have had at least three different meals to choose from. The table would be covered with fruit, wine, meat… The young king started hating himself for complaining about his life as the King of Asgard. If he had just been smart enough not to trust Heimdall…  
Loki looked up at the ceiling, knowing Heimdall could see him. At that moment he realised Frigga wasn't with them. The young king looked around the table.

"If you don't mind me asking, where is your sweet little daughter?" Loki asked nonchalantly.

Jane looked at her husband before answering.  
"She wasn't hungry.." she said while cutting herself a piece of the omelette. Normally she would have made her daughter eat something, but after everything that happened today, she couldn't really get herself to force Frigga into doing anything.

Loki smiled and sprang onto his feet.  
"Great! I'm hungry either!" he said, eagerly to leave the table. He felt really uncomfortable sitting next to his brother, but Thor grabbed Loki's shoulder and forced him to sit down again. Jane couldn't keep a slight smile of her face.

"Sit!" Thor commanded Loki.

Loki sighed. "  
What happened, brother?" he asked while Jane put a piece of the omelette on his plate.  
"I mean, since the first second you recognised me, you have been angry with me. Not that I don't understand… but what happened with the _I keep up the cool face and tell him he's going to die if he goes against me_-face."

Thor smiled while he took a slice of bread.  
"You really can't think of any reason why I would hate you…" he asked.

Loki grinned.  
"Enlighten me, brother…" the young king sneered while tearing a piece of bread apart.

Thor waited a few moments before answering.  
"You died, right in front of me… twice… what about that…"

"Yes… you already mentioned that in the park…" Loki said while pretending to think Thor's words over.

"You are king because of a lie…" Thor continued.

"Maybe, but a good king!" Loki immediately answered.

"What about: you're a selfish piece of shit!"

Loki pretended to be taken back.  
"Your language, brother. Good thing your daughter isn't here…"

Thor dropped his fork on his plate and turned to his brother.  
"How am I supposed to keep up my _I keep up the cool face and tell him he's going to die _-face, or whatever you wanne call it, when you keep on threatening my family!"

Loki wasn't impressed. He fixed his light grey eyes on his brother's bright blue ones and swallowed a piece of the omelette before answering.  
"I think _you _don't get it, dear brother… I'm king now. I can't even think of hurting, threatening or killing any of the citizens of the nine realms. Not without any good reason. I swore to protect every single one of them which includes your little family and… you."

Loki had trouble with saying the last word, but he knew it was true.

Thor looked at his brother in amazement. Honestly, he'd never expected to hear those words coming out of Loki's mouth, but for some reason Thor believed that his brother really meant what he was saying. The God of Thunder sat back in his chair and started eating again.  
"Keeping his promises isn't the only thing a king is supposed to do…" he continued.

Loki sighed. "I didn't say that!"

Thor just ignored his brother and kept on talking.  
"There're also other things like being friendly when he needs to, for example"

Loki sighed.  
"Seriously!" he asked.

"Seriously!" Thor answered.

"What? You think I can't be friendly!" the young king added.

Thor looked at his brother with a meaningful look on his face. Loki didn't really know what to think of this.

"I can be friendly!" he exclaimed.

"Oh really?" Thor asked without looking up from his plate. He really liked it when Loki got angry about a stupid challenge. It made him think of old times…

"Yes!" Loki went on. "Watch!"

The young king turned to Jane and put up the smile he had been practising on the last five years. Even Jane was amazed.

"Your cooking skills aren't so bad after all, Jane. " Loki said before turning to his brother again.  
"See!" he shouted. "That was friendly! I even said her name!"

Thor could barely stop himself from laughing. Loki was ready to shout something, but Jane stopped him.

"Can you two just shut your mouths for a moment! You're like two little kids! For God's sake! You both had thousands of years to grow up! "

Loki shut his mouth and looked at the woman before him. Thor cleared his throat.

"Seriously! If you don't shut up I'm going to put both of you in a separate room!" Jane continued. She didn't really mean what she was saying, but she enjoyed the looks on both men's faces. Priceless!

"Your right, honey, I'm sorry…" Thor said while he was trying to stop himself from laughing.

Loki understood Thor had been playing with him and sighed. His stepbrother kept surprising him every now and then.

* * *

I know, not a lot of exiting stuff happened... sorry about that

I just needed to write Loki's first (awkward) evening on Earth down ;)

Hope you enjoyed it! please review! :)


	9. Chapter 8

Sorry, guys, it's a short chapie, but I hope you'll like it ;)

* * *

_**Chapter 8**_

It had been three days since Loki first set foot in Jane and Thor's apartment. Three of the most boring days in his life. Even the ones the young king had spent in his cell had been more fun because of his mother's daily visits.

The young king lay on his bed in the spare room of the apartment. It was still dark outside. Loki never managed to get more than four or five hours sleep per night. Every time he closed his eyes, the usual nightmares took their grip on his imagination. Nightmares about The Battle of New York, the empty and dark nights and days in his cell, but also child memories of his first battles.  
Loki sometimes wondered if Thor suffered from the same nightmares. His stepbrother, who always led the battles, never seemed scared. And when he was finally accompanied by his hammer, Mjölnir, Thor had been the nightmare of most of their enemies… But Loki had always been the soft one. He wasn't as big, as strong or as fast as his brother and that was the probably the main reason why his mother had taught him how to use magic.

The young king had recently found out that he had chosen the right time to come down to earth. A time called _vacation_. It basically meant that Frigga didn't have to go to school. Also Thor didn't have to go to work. He kept on talking about different shifts during this particular period. Loki had been wondering what Thor did for living…  
Only Jane sometimes left to go to her laboratory. She worked – off all places - at Stark Tower. After Stark had rebuild his tower, now with a huge A on top of it, he had changed two floors into an enormous, high tech laboratory, fully intended for research on Alien Power Sources and Energy or APSE as he liked to call it. In short, he was trying to build a new Tesseract or something that had the same unlimited power. Loki knew Thor had tried to convince Stark not to make one, but once Stark had said his mind on something, there was no stopping him.

Little Frigga would ask her parents every five minutes if they could go the park, but because it had been raining for the last three day everybody was forced to stay inside. Even Loki was starting to get irritated to walk through the lousy apartment, seeing the same walls, the same pictures, the same grey view outside, the same three faces,… He was quite sure Thor was responsible for the bad weather.  
Because Loki was always up really early, he could hear Thor leave and come back half an hour later before anyone woke up. He supposed his stepbrother went to wherever he had hidden Mjölnir. The hammer gave him the power to control the weather and by doing that he could make sure that Loki stayed inside the house so he could keep an eye on him. A pathetic plan according to the young king.

Loki checked the digital watch next to his bed. Six o'clock. Time to get up. Loki left the room as quiet as possible and made his way to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and got himself a can of the delicious drink he'd had in the park: Coca Cola. Frigga had already warned him that it wasn't very healthy, but he just ignored her and said: "You've had five years with this drink, I've had thousands without it…" Then he would open the can and leave the little girl by her own. She had made a game out of spying on the young king and every time he tried to get a coke, she would sprint to the kitchen and grab the last one from the fridge.

Loki took a sip of the coke and opened the glass door leading to a small balcony while he changed his appearance in "Tony's". Thor thought that even this high - the apartment was on the tenth floor - people would be able to spot Loki sitting outside. The young king didn't really care. This way he could at least practise his magic.

Loki said down, feet dangling over the edge and looked over New York. In the far distance, a bit to the left, he could see the massive construction of Stark Tower, standing close to the Empire State Building. In front of him, Loki looked over Central Park. From this angle it all looked quite close, but the young king knew it was entirely the opposite.  
After the incident at Central Park , Loki and Thor had to do whole way to the apartment by foot because Jane had taken the car to go home with Frigga. Not something the young wanted to do again any time soon. He got sick from the constant smell of what Thor called _hot dogs... _You could literally find a hotdog stand on every damn corner! Loki couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat a warm dog…

The young king noticed that for the first time in days it wasn't raining. Maybe Thor had accepted that he couldn't keep deceiving everyone. Or maybe he just overslept this time…  
A second later Loki got his answer. Thor stumbled into the kitchen, trying to tie his shoelaces while searching for his keys he always left on the kitchen table. Only then he realised that Loki was staring at him with a smug smile covering his face. Thor sighed. He grabbed his keys and walked over to the balcony.

"Why are you up so early?" he asked while putting on his coat.

Loki grinned.  
"I'm always up this early, you only didn't notice because you're too busy getting everyone soaked."

"No idea what you mean!" Thor answered.

Loki's grin grew even bigger when he looked up at his stepbrother.  
"Oh come on, Thor! You may deceive everybody else, but I know a magic storm when I see it. I may not understand how that television-thing works, but I do know what an idiot pointing at little suns is doing. That guy is going to lose his job because of you…"

Thor waited a few seconds before giving in. He sighed and set down next to his brother.  
"There's just no deceiving you, is there?" he said with a smile.

"Fantastic, after a thousand years he finally got it!" Loki answered sarcastically.

Thor didn't respond, so Loki continued.  
"I am the God of Mischief, I deceive people, not the other way around…"

"Well, making bad weather is my job…" Thor said.

"Oh, and that involves sneaking off in the middle of the night…"

Thor sighed. Loki smiled and drank from his coke.

"So," Loki started after short silence, "where is the mighty Mjölnir?"

Thor shook his head. "Forget it. Not in a thousand years I would bring you any close to Mjölnir."

Loki pulled up his eyebrows.  
"Why not, if I might ask?"

"If you're king now, you'll be able to actually carry Mjölnir yourself. Next to that you probably have the power to take away my powers…" Thor explained.

Loki thought about that a moment. He didn't want to admit it, but he wasn't entirely sure that he could do that. After all, technically he wasn't king. Not until the former king would have crowned him, but Loki immediately forgot about that possibility.

"Good point!" he said. "But why would I do that?"

Thor pulled up his eyebrows in surprise.  
"I think you've got enough reasons, no matter how ridiculous…"

The young king rolled his eyes and crushed the now empty can in his hands.  
"I mean, 'why now?' In case you forgot: I could have forced you to leave Mjölnir on Asgard, but even when you wanted to return it willingly, I let you keep it."

Thor frowned. The memory of his last moments on Asgard became visible before his eyes. Now he knew that Odin was in fact Loki, he didn't really know what to think of it.

Loki got to his feet and was ready to go inside again when Thor stopped him.  
"Why? Why didn't you take Mjölnir?" he asked.

Loki swallowed. He knew that one reason was the fact that he wouldn't have been able to use Mjölnir, but over the years the young king had found a second reason.

"Even though it's hard for me to admit it…", The God of Mischief started sarcastically, "a king is nothing without his warriors. Taking Mjölnir away from you is just asking for trouble…"

Thor looked up at his brother and tried to make out if he was just selling nonsense or not.

"And by the way, I don't think that Mjölnir would suit me…" the young king added with a smile.

A sudden sound made the two brother look up. Jane walked into the kitchen, dragging her feet and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.  
"Why are you two awake! It's half past six! Am I the only one who understands the meaning of sleeping?" Jane said while making herself a strong cup of coffee. "And to think that I'm the one who's supposed to go to work!"

Jane looked sleepily at the two men in front of her. Her eyes rested on on Loki for a moment. He still looked like the guy she met in the park. Jane just couldn't get used to the weird feeling Loki's illusions gave her.

Thor got to his feet and joined his wife.

"II thought you didn't need to be in today?" he asked while taking a coffee cup for himself. Jane pulled up her shoulders.

"Tony called me out of bed. He thinks he may have found the problem with the Energy Converter. At least Jarvis has…"

"That's already the fifth time this week!" Thor mumbled while opening the fridge to get the milk.

"Not like I can help it..." Jane muttered while supressing a yawn. "Maybe I can finally get on with my work…"

Thor stood behind Jane and put his arms around her waist. "How can I convince you that it has no use trying to make a new Tesseract! It's dangerous!"

Jane turned around so see could look Thor in the eyes.  
"I know… but think of the possibilities… we just want it's power…" she said softly, but Thor's serious expression didn't fade away.

"By the way, if it makes you feel any better: I don't think Tony is going to succeed. According to my research, it's as good as impossible… " Jane finished sadly.

She softly touched Thor's face until he looked at least a little bit less worried. Not that she blamed him. Until a couple of years ago everyone would have said that a millionaire in flying super suit was impossible too…

"And Stark delivers the perfect tools to work with… I can actually get somewhere now…" Jane said.

Thor smiled and tried to kiss Jane, but they were rudely interrupted by Loki who pretended to throw up.  
"Do that stuff in your room!" the young king said. He had already change into his own appearance again. "It's bloody disgusting!"

Thor and Jane both took a step back. They really didn't feel like arguing with Loki at the moment.

Suddenly an idea sprang to Jane's mind. She quickly glanced at the God of Mischief. Should she? Would he want to help her? She could only give it a try.

Jane turned to Loki and searched for words.  
"Eeeh, Loki, I was wondering… maybe _you_ could help us build a new unlimited power source… like the Tesseract." she said.

Thor immediately opened his mouth to stop Loki from answering. He was quite sure Loki was able to help them, but he never got the chance to say anything.  
Loki's usual sneer disappeared almost immediately. A flash of horror shot through his light grey eyes.

Jane didn't notice so she just kept talking.  
"I just thought you'd probably know a thing or two about… you know… the Tesseract…"

Silence filled the air while Jane waited for an answer. Only then she noticed the strange look on Loki's face. For a moment it seemed like the God of Mischief was lost in thoughts, horrible thoughts, but a second later his eyes lit up again. The young king looked around the kitchen.

"No!" he said harshly before leaving the room.

Jane watched him confusedly. Also Thor didn't fully understand why his brother was acting like this.

"Did.. did I say something wrong?" Jane asked cautiously after a couple of minutes.

Thor had been thinking over the same words. He couldn't think of any reason why Jane was to blame… So he turned around a forced his most charming smile on his face.

"Of course not honey… You better get going, you don't want to let Stark waiting…"

Jane tried to smile.  
"Right, don't forget to wake Frigga up before eleven o'clock. Otherwise she won't sleep tonight…" She said. "And you could go to the park today, I believe it's going to be a lovely day!"

Jane drank her coffee in one gulp, kissed Thor softly on his cheek and ran off to get dressed, leaving her husband on his own.

The God of Thunder's smile disappeared the moment his wife left. He ran over Jane's words over and over again. She had spoken about nothing but the Tesseract. Thor promised himself he would look in to it. He knew Loki long enough to know when his brother was scared to death…

* * *

I know, still nothing really exiting yet... sorry... maybe next chapter, if not then certainly the one after that...

Hope you enjoyed it! Please review ;)


	10. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

Thor throw a cautious look on his brother. Loki/Tony was sitting next to him on a bench near the small playground in Central Park. The God of Mischief hadn't said one word since the incident in the kitchen that morning. And now he was just staring at the playing kids with a bored look in his eyes.

"Daddy! Daddy! Look! I've made a castle again!"

Frigga came running towards the bench, her clothes, hands and face fully covered in sand.

Thor turned to his daughter and smiled.  
"It's lovely, sweetheart" he said after seeing the piles of sand in the sandpit. Thor never really knew what to say to his daughter, but Frigga had grown used to that so she didn't expect her father to say anything else. The little girl timidly looked at Loki. She remembered how he'd been really excited about her castle. At least, Odin had been…

Loki looked up and found Frigga staring at him like she was expecting something from him. The young king's eyes fixed on the piles of sand in the sandpit. A smug smile appeared on his face before he turned to Frigga again.

"Be careful your _Daddy _doesn't destroy it with an alien ship… He's rather good at that…"

Frigga didn't fully understand, but she knew Loki had said something rude. Her smile dropped, she turned around and ran back to the sandpit while she desperately tried to hide her tears.

Thor clenched his teeth and turned to Loki. The young king didn't even pay attention to his daughter anymore!

"What is your problem!" he hissed.

Loki didn't move. "You!" he simply said.

"Is this because of what Jane was talking about… the Tesseract…." Thor asked after a short silence. He really had to try his best not to shout.

Loki bit his lip. So Thor had noticed. Turned out he wasn't as stupid as Loki thought he was… the young king considered his words before answering. With a deep sigh he turned to his brother, completely hiding the fear in his eyes.

"Excuse me if my behaviour bothers you, I'm only being held 'prisoner' on a lousy world while Asgard doesn't have a proper king. And I don't think I need to tell you the dangers that imbecile of a Stark in bringing on himself and the rest of Midgard by trying to make a new Tesseract…" Loki answered coldly.

"Don't play with me, Loki. I know there's something else you're not telling me…"

Loki rolled his eyes and looked away.  
"Oh yes, because you know me so well…" he said.

"You would be surprised…" Thor muttered just loud enough for his brother to hear it.

Loki didn't answer. Somewhere, tugged away deeply inside his mind, a voice warned him he had to stop Stark. During the last five years the young king had developed some kind of _king-conscience _which always came to the surface whenever the nine realms could be in danger…  
Again it instinctively advised him to control the use and development of that much energy. Loki knew better than anyone else what the Tesseract was capable of…

But on the other hand… If Stark succeeded he would possess an unlimited power source which could be used to solve the energy problem the earth suffered from. To accomplish that, the power source had to be in good hands and Loki knew that that was as good as impossible, especially for humans… They were just such pathetic creatures!

Loki didn't really know what to think of it so he decided to follow Jane's research which stated that succeeding was almost impossible…

Small raindrops woke the young king from his thoughts. Loki looked at the sky before he threw Thor a accusing look. Thor pulled up his shoulders innocently.  
"What? This is not me!" he said before getting up to call Frigga.

The little girl ran towards her father.  
"The rain is going to destroy my castle, Daddy!" she said sadly. Thor looked at the sandpit. The first big raindrops were starting to make holes in the sand piles.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I can't really help you with that… you can build a new castle tomorrow… We'll make one togeth…"

Thor went silent when an idea sprang to his mind. He turned to Loki and threw him a meaningful look. The young king didn't understand at first, but after Thor gestured to the sandpit, he couldn't keep a surprised look of his face.

"Since when am I allowed to use magic for something else then an illusion?" Loki asked.

"Since I asked you to use it just this once!" Thor answered harshly.

Loki pulled up his eyebrows.  
"It's only sand…" he said with a bored expression covering his face.

"Now, Loki! You've got to set something right after all!" Thor said gesturing at his daughter who was looking between the two men, not fully understanding what they were talking about.

Loki sighed and stretched out his arm. A green glance formed a small, transparent dome over the piles of sand, stopping the rain from destroying it.

Frigga watched in amazement. Afterwards she turned to Loki, eyes full of admiration.

"Happy?" Loki asked Thor, but it was Frigga who answered. The little girl nodded fiercely and suppressed the desire to hug the man in front of her.

"Yes! Thank you very much!" she said with a huge smile covering her cute face.

Thor nervously tapped with his fingers on the steering wheel. They had made to the car just in time. The sky had turned dark grey and the clouds tore open like the jaws of a hungry dragon. It was bucketing down and the streets slowly flooded. The traffic was terrible, but Thor mentally thanked Jane for taking a taxi to Stark Tower. He wouldn't have survived the walk home in this weather…

Frigga was sitting on the back seat. Because they weren't moving, she'd lost her seatbelt – ignoring her father's protest – and was now sitting on her knees starring at Loki's neck. The young king tried hard not to turn around and shout at her, but the constant stinging feeling in his neck was making that quite a challenge.

After another five minutes of not moving, Frigga finally opened her mouth.  
"How did you do that?" she asked in astonishment.

Loki sighed.  
"I farted and used my magical fart to make the rain disappear…" he answered without looking at the girl.

Frigga frowned.  
"Really?" she asked after a short silence.

Loki couldn't to smile.  
"Oh yes of course!" he immediately answered.

Thor smiled and shook his head.  
"No, Frigga! He's trying to be funny… and I thought we asked you not to speak to Frigga!" Thor said.

"I'm only answering a question.. "Loki answered childishly.

Thor didn't react. Instead he turned around and said "Frigga, sit down and don't forget your seatbelt!" for the eight time.

Ten minutes later the traffic started to move again and Thor was finally able to drive the last five minutes to their home.

Not able to stop trembling, Thor opened the front door. Even the few seconds they'd needed to run from the car to the apartment had been enough to get soaked to the bone. Frigga's smile seemed to be washed away while she ran inside to turn on the heat, leaving a trail of small puddles behind her. Loki slowly followed. The moment he entered he changed into his own appearance again which resulted in fully dried clothes. Thor sighed and closed the door. Sometimes he had to admit that Loki's magic could come in quite handy.

The two brothers walked into the living room and found Jane who just put a big towel over her daughter's shaking shoulders. She looked up and smiled sympathetically at her husband.

"You never guess what happened!" she said sarcastically while she walked over to Thor and handed him another towel. "I arrived at Stark's and you know what he said: "The Energy Converter is broken again! Sorry, Jarvis' fault." I'm quite sure Tony tried to fix the damn thing himself instead of letting Jarvis handle it… typical!"

"So you got home early.." Thor finished for Jane.

Jane nodded. She threw a quick look on Loki before realising that giving him a towel had no use. The young king just ignored her and sat down on the couch. Jane watched him and bit her lip. Was he still upset about whatever happened that morning or was she just imagining things? It wasn't like Loki was the most social being in the house… Jane looked at her husband, but Thor just pulled up is shoulders and left to get new clothes.

"Mummy! Mummy!" Frigga called out when her mother had put away the third towel. "Loki saved my castle with magic!"

Jane's eyes grew big. She turned to her husband who just returned from their bedroom and threw him a meaningful look like she was trying to say: "You let him use magic?"

Thor rolled with his eyes like he said: "it was nothing…"

Frigga didn't notice the silent conversation between her parents and just got more and more exited. She ran towards the sofa, staring up at the God of Mischief who did his best to keep ignoring the little girl.

"How did you doooooo iiiiit!" Frigga exclaimed while putting on her cutest expression possible.

Loki grinned.  
"I already told you! I used my magical fart!" he whispered.

Jane frowned and pulled her daughter away from the cough.  
"What? Soon she believes that farting is magical!" she said to Loki.

"Oh but it is!" the young king answered.

Jane pulled up her eyebrows. Was Loki actual capable of making jokes?  
"I'm quite sure that there's nothing _magical _about _farting_!"

"How would you know, wiseacre?" Loki asked in challenging tone. He was starting to enjoy this – completely idiotic – conversation. Also Frigga couldn't keep a smile of her face while her eyes darted between her mother and Loki.

Jane crossed her arms in front of her chest.  
"What did you just call me?" she asked with a smile.

Loki didn't respond. Instead he just said back and grinned from ear to ear.

"I'm a scientist." Jane continued. "If farting was magical, I would have noticed."

"Maybe Asgardian farts are magical!" Loki said while he jumped to his feet.

Jane looked at the young king in amazement. He actually succeeded to make her laugh about something absolutely foolish. Why was she even having this discussion. It didn't make any sense!

"Oh, and I probably should warn you: Thor's farts are extremely magical!" Loki continued with an - obviously fake - serious expression on his face.

Jane couldn't hold it anymore. She laughed and nodded.  
"That, on the other hand, I did notice…" she said with a smile. Frigga giggled and pointed at her father who was watching the scene in astonishment.

"Hey! I'm still here!" he said.

"I'm only stating facts, dear brother…" Loki said with a huge grin while he walked past Thor to go to his room. Jane and Thor watched the young king in shock.

Jane just couldn't believe the young hadn't bitten Frigga's head of. He had been… nice and … funny… Maybe she's misjudged him…

Thor on the other hand had grown used to his brother's weird behaviour. At least as far as it was possible to grown used to that… but the scene he'd just witnessed made him think of long forgotten times. Loki almost seemed like his old self. Like his brother who was always in for a joke, who always made everybody laugh about something silly when no one had any reason to be happy…

A long forgotten memory came to the surface. It was a time The God of Thunder hadn't thought about in a very long time, but he never wanted to forget…

(MEMORY)

"Oh, get over it, Thor! It not the end of the universe!" Sif called out while picking an apple from the enormous fruit bowl that was standing against the wall of the room.  
"You want an apple?" She asked without looking at the prince of Asgard.

"Easy for you to say! You got away! And yes, I want an apple." Thor answered harshly.

Sif rolled with her eyes and threw a big green apple towards Thor who never got it because it was caught in mid-air by another hand.

Loki walked in while he took a bite of the apple.  
"Oh no, my beloved brother is jealous of a girl… " the young prince said dramatically through a mouth full of apple.

"It's not funny, Loki!" Thor groaned.

"My apologies, oh great leader of failure!" Loki sneered.

Thor picked up a pillow at threw it Loki's way, but the pillow just flew right through his body. A second later the illusion dissolved in the air and Loki appeared to be standing near the fruit bowl.

"Oops, you missed me!" he said with a smile. Thor scowled and threw another pillow towards his brother, but again the pillow only hit thin air.

"You really should learn how to aim…" a bored voice sounded behind Thor's chair. The young prince looked up and saw his brother standing behind him, grinning from ear to ear waving around his apple. At the other end of the room Sif couldn't help but laughing.

"Seriously, Thor. Loki's been standing there from the beginning and you didn't notice!" she said with a smile.

Thor blushed heavily and watched his brother walk across the room.  
"Wait until I'll possess the power of the Mighty Mjölnir!" the blond haired prince said. "Then I will be the strongest! Even your magic tricks or your _female warrior complex_ won't be so impressive anymore!"

Loki just ignored his brother and continued.  
"No wonder you almost got us killed today…" he said with a challenging tone.

The blond prince said back in his chair and crossed his arms.  
"I mean it, Loki! In case you forgot: we're grounded for a month!" Thor exclaimed angrily.

"Correction:" Loki started while he made himself comfortable in a big chair on the other side of the large, crackling fire in the middle of the room. "_You _are grounded for a month!"

The blue eyed prince looked up in surprise. "What!" he called out.

Loki grinned and took another bite from the apple.

"Don't be so surprised." Sif started while she sat down in a chair close to Thor's. "In case _you _forgot: It was me who saved your ass today…"

"And it was me who got us out in time!" Loki added.

"It wasn't my fault!" Thor defended himself. Loki and Sif shared a look.

"Of course not, brother. You just accidentally happened to bump in to the leader of the pack…" Loki answered innocently.

Thor picked up another pillow and threw it, over the fire, towards his brother. But the young prince stretched out his arm, stopped the pillow in mid-air and catapulted it right in Thor's face. Sif couldn't prevent a small giggle to leave her lips.

Just at that moment, two other Asgardians entered the room. The smallest, Hogun, casted a suspicious look on Loki when he stopped the pillow.

The young prince noticed and sighed. He threw the core of the apple in one perfect bow in the empty bowl next to the fruit bowl on the other end of the room and fixed his eyes on the Vanaheimer.

"Oh, come on, Hogun. It's only a pillow… it won't bite…" he said with a smile.

Hogun didn't show any emotion, not that he ever did…  
"My apologies, my prince. It's just the magic that makes me feel uncomfortable." he said.

Loki's eyes turned dark for a moment. From all his friends, Hogun had always been the one to question him…  
"Your Queen practices magic, you better have care how you speak!" the young prince answered bitterly.

Hogun bowed his head. "My apologies my prince…" he said.

Thor who could sense his brother was getting angry, quickly changed the subject. He put aside the pillow which had just hit him in the face, turned to the second newcomer and asked: "Any news from the infirmary, Volstagg?"

Volstagg's expression turned sad. "It seems Fandral was poisoned by the wolf's bite. The nurses don't know when he's going to wake up…

Sadness spread across the room. Loki looked around. He really hated sad faces!

"Oh come on, guys!" he called out, hoping to break the tension. "We all know Fandral! He's too stubborn and self-obsessed to die like that. Besides, he's going to leave a million weeping girls behind, all fighting over him. And who's going to have to take care of that? I'm not looking forward to keeping a million girls from ripping each other to pieces…"

Sif forced herself not to smile. Instead she threw her untouched apple towards the young prince and said: "Girls aren't like that at all! You know nothing of women!"

Loki caught the apple swift-handed and threw Sif a flirty grin.  
"Oh really, enlighten me, Lady Sif!" he said sarcastically.

Sif opened her mouth in awe.  
"Girls are not that naïve! You don't just buy our love, you earn it!" she said superciliously.

The others in the room eagerly followed the conversation.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Thor asked with a smile.

Sif pulled up her eyebrows.  
"You have to impress us…" she said with fake conceit.

The two brother shared a look and nodded.

"Like this, you mean…" Loki said while he made a small movement with his hand. Five little, sparkling butterflies appeared in the fire and fluttered towards Sif. The girl warrior immediately jumped behind her chair in an effort to escape the dangerously hot wings.

"Lokiiiiii! Don't!" she shouted, but she couldn't hide her smile.

Everyone – except for Hogun of course – laughed at the side of Lady Sif running across the room trying to fight off the fire butterflies.

Thor looked at his brother. They both knew Loki was going to pay for this, but at the moment they had way to much fun think about that.

(END MEMORY)

Thor smiled. He hadn't thought of that moment for a long time. He looked up and saw Jane pushing an exited and laughing Frigga too her room to get some dry clothes. Loki had done it again. He'd seen a sad face and turned it into a smile again.

"Thor, honey, I'm sorry, but I didn't feel like cooking tonight so I ordered Chinese. I hope that's okay with you…" Jane shouted from Frigga's room.

"Of course, sweetheart!" he shouted back.

Another laugh sounded through the house. It was Jane's.  
"That poor feller is gonne be soaked because of me…" Jane said. "Poor guy…"

* * *

Hope you liked it (that memory came rather spontanious...;) )

Please review :)


	11. Chapter 10

So, as promissed, this one's a bit longer ;) Hope you like it...

* * *

_**Chapter 10**_

"_Are you ready kids?"  
"Aye Aye Captain!"  
"I can't hear you!"  
"Aye Aye Captain!"  
"Ooooooh… Who lives in a pineapple under the sea!"  
"Spongebob Squarepants!"  
"Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!"  
"Spongebob Squarepants!"  
_

Loki looked at the TV screen in shock. Frigga had been watching the same completely insane show all morning, but the young king still couldn't believe his eyes.

A slightly irritated Thor entered the living room. He groaned and rubbed his head.  
"Frigga, please. Don't you think you've watched enough television for one day…"

"Hush, Daddy! I haven't seen this episode yet…" Frigga answered, not letting her eyes leave the screen.

The God of Thunder sighed and closed his eyes. That stupid theme song had been his alarm clock that very morning. Thor mentally reminded himself that if he ever met the idiot who had decided to broadcast _Spongbob – marathons _on Saturday mornings, he would definitely kill him…

"It's a talking sponge…" a voice suddenly sounded through the room. Loki was still staring at the screen, definitely in shock.

Thor sighed again. "Yes, it's called Spongebob Squarpants…"

"Yes, yes, I noticed, but… it's a talking… _sponge_!" Loki repeated while turning to his brother. He pointed at screen. "And a squirrel, a talking squirrel! Under water!"

"I know.." Thor answered tiredly.

"He lives in a pineapple!" Loki continued not understanding why Thor didn't share his concern and disbelief.

"Yes…" Thor said.

"A damn pineapple, Thor!" Loki shouted. "And you think that I have a bad influence on your daughter…"

Thor had to admit. He and Loki had seen quite a lot of shocking and terrible things. They had fought in horrible battles, against terrifying monsters. More than once they'd looked death in the eyes only to suffer from horrifying memories and nightmares afterwards, but this…  
No, Thor didn't blame Loki…

At that moment Jane walked in. She was rubbing her ears, looking even more annoyed then her husband.  
"Am I the only one who keeps hearing "_Aye Aye Captain!"_? she asked imitating the Captain while making a weird pirate movement with her arms.

"Hush!" Frigga said while throwing angry looks on her parents.

Jane walked over to the television, took the remote control and switched of the screen. It seemed like Frigga woke up from a trance. She blinked with her eyes and look at her mother.

"Mummy!" she started, but one look of her mother made her shut up. Everybody in the room let out a sigh of relief.

"Enough is enough, Frigga!" Jane said sternly while putting the remote on the top of the TV so Frigga couldn't reach it.  
"Get your shoes, I think it's a good idea if we go to the park today. Then I can see the castle you build yesterday…"

Frigga almost fell from the sofa and walked to her room, dragging her feet. Just before she left the living room an idea sprang to her mind. She turned around and put on her most innocent look possible.

"Mummy," she asked. "Can't we go to the library…"

Thor looked up in surprise. That wasn't a very bad idea. Maybe he could find something about the Tesseract there. The God of Thunder seriously doubted that, but he could only try. Maybe he could find something that would explain Loki's weird reaction.

Jane was as surprised as her husband.  
"But you haven't finished your books from the last time…" she started, but Frigga quickly interrupted.

"I have Mummy!" she said. "All of them…"

Jane though for a moment. She looked at her husband. Thor quickly put an serious expression on his face. He didn't want Jane to think that something was wrong. He cleared his throat and pretended to think the idea over.  
"I don't see why not…" he said.

"Library sounds good to me!" Loki suddenly said. Both parents looked at him like they'd forgotten, he was there.

"What?" the young king asked. He liked libraries. When he was younger he used to spend lots of time in the library of the palace to read every book about magic he could get his hands on. Now he came to think of it, Thor probably didn't know that since Loki couldn't remember seeing his brother in the library. Thor possibly didn't even know the palace had a library. He spend all his time fighting and getting his ass kicked by Sif...

"You're not coming with us.." Thor said.

Loki pulled up his eyebrows.  
"Why not?" he asked.

"Well.." Jane started, not really knowing what to say, but Loki already understood. He closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.

"Seriously, I'm not going to destroy a library. Why would I do that?"

Neither Jane nor Thor knew an answer to that, so Loki continued.  
"And I don't think you would leave me behind…alone…" he said.

Thor bid his lip. He hadn't thought about that. He looked at Jane. His wife seemed to be considering the idea. After a few seconds she pulled up her shoulders. What could go wrong? Loki could of course destroy the library, but that wouldn't exactly help him with proving Thor he was a good king.

"All right then.." Thor finally said. "But you…"

"Yes yes! I know the drill!" Loki interrupted. He rolled his eyes and changed his appearance into Tony's.

"Frigga, go and get your books too. We'll leave in ten minutes." Jane said while walking to the hallway to get her coat. Thor threw Loki one more warning look before following her.

Half an hour later Loki found himself at the entrance of New York Public Library. It was huge… There were just no other words to describe it and the young king thought it was amazing!

"Was that really magic?" Frigga asked for the third time. Loki had been ignoring her the last five minutes, but it was starting to annoy him.

"Was what really magic?" he asked harshly.

Frigga ignored the sharp tone.  
"That what you did for my sand castle" she explained while trying to catch up with Loki's big steps.

"Yes…" Loki said dryly.

"And those illusions? Is that magic too?"

"Yes…" Loki answered again.

Frigga thought about that for a moment.  
"Cooooooool!" she said in wonderment.

Loki rolled his eyes. He still didn't understand why people thought that being cold was any fun…

"Can you teach me?" Frigga suddenly asked.

Loki looked down in surprise. The little girl looked up at him with eyes full expectation.  
"I don't think your parents would like that…" he said after a couple of seconds.

Frigga's smile slightly disappeared.  
"Why not?" she asked.

Loki didn't really know why, but was quite certain Thor would kill him if he did…  
"They probably think it would make you… evil…"

Frigga was shocked. She blinked confusedly and asked: "Evil? Are you evil then?"

Again Loki was surprised about the girl's question. He'd almost forgotten that Frigga didn't know anything about… well… anything…

The young king smiled.  
"I suppose that depends on your point of view…" he said just before Thor called Frigga to follow them. The little girl frowned. She didn't understand what Loki meant, but she turned around and followed her parents.

_German legends and Fairy Tales _Loki read.

He had chosen a section of the library at random and started taking books from the shelves. It seemed he'd chosen the section about Mythology and Legends.

Loki took the book he'd just found and put it on the pile of books next to a chair close to the wall. Afterwards he sat down and picked one of the books and began reading.

The one thing he liked about humans was that they put all their knowledge in these books. On Asgard that happened too of course, but Asgardians seemed to have the weird desire to tell certain things without writing them down. That was probably because Asgardians lived a lot longer and once they heard something they didn't easily forget, but Loki was quite sure that a lot of precious information and legends were lost because of that idiotic habit.

Suddenly the young king saw something in the corner of his eye. Frigga had appeared two rows right of him. She looked around her like she was checking if anyone could see her. Then she took a quick look at the books on the lowest shelve. A deep frown appeared on her pretty face, probably because she couldn't read any of the titles. After a couple of minutes she decided to pick a book at random. Inquisitive as she was, she picked the biggest of them all. With all her might Frigga pulled the heavy, probably five thousand pages book off the shelve. With a loud thud it hit the ground. Frigga looked at the cover for a couple of seconds before opening the enormous book.

Loki frowned. This wasn't the kids section… what was she doing here? The young king quickly casted a look on the sign above the bookcase.

_Norse Mythology and Legends _it said.

The young king frowned. What was she searching for?

Suddenly an old, but friendly lady appeared behind Frigga, but teh girl was looking at the few pictures in the book, trying to understand what was written next to them and therefore didn't notice her.

The lady spotted the little girl. She recognized her. Frigga Foster. The little girl just loved books, even though she couldn't read yet, but to see her in this section of the library was new.

"Frigga? What are you doing here?" the woman asked friendly. The little girl looked up in shock and closed the book.

The women looked over the girl's shoulder and read the title on the cover of the massive book.

_Secrets of Yggdrasil: Everything about the nine worlds and their inhabitants_

The old women put on her glasses which were dangling at a rope around her neck so she could read it again.

"Why are you reading this, sweetheart? What is it that you want to know?" the woman asked looking a bit concerned.

Frigga who knew that she'd been caught tried to come up with an excuse.  
"I…I… I heard that The Mighty Thor is a N… Norse God… and I was wondering… I wanted to know…a ..bit more about ….eeeeh…my D… I mean him… Thor." The young girl stuttered.

Two rows away Loki couldn't help but smile. He was impressed how quickly the little girl came up with a believable lie… only the presentation could be better…

The old lady smiled. Frigga wasn't the first who came to her to ask about The Avengers.  
"Maybe you should visit The Avengers section in the kids section. We got a lot of books about Thor there with lots of pictures and…"

"I know, but I wanted to know where he came from and all that stuff…" Frigga interrupted impatiently. The old lady was surprised, but she didn't mention it. she thought about Frigga's words for a moment before giving in. After all, she was really intrested in the Norse Mythology herself and was always open for a listening ear.

"All right then, would you like me to read it out loud for you?" she asked. Frigga nodded fiercely while she tried to lift the book so she could hand it to the old lady.

The woman smiled. She was in love with that exited, inquisitive look in the girls eyes. She picked up the book and sat down in a chair near the section. She took Frigga on her lap and opened the book. The little girl watched in excitement. Also Loki, who was still sitting on the other side of the room, pretending to read fixed his attention on the woman.

"Now then…" the old lady started like she was going to tell Frigga a fairy tale. "Thor Odinson was born on Asgard! He is the son of Odin and he's really powerful. He is also known as The God Of Thunder. With his Mighty hammer Mjölnir, he can control the weather and make it storm…"

The old lady pointed at the pictures in the book, not noticing the nervous girl on her lap. Frigga had to do her best not to say anything. She already knew all this stuff about her father. That wasn't why she was here.  
The old woman turned page after page and Frigga only got more and more impatient until her eye fell on the picture she had been searching for.

"And who is that?" she immediately asked, pointing at the picture. The library lady stopped talking. She had been talking about something on the previous page before Frigga interrupted. Her eyes followed Frigga's pointing finger.

"Oh, well, that's Loki…"

At the other end of the room Loki froze in his chair. So that was it... Frigga had been searching for information on him.

"He's Thor's brother" the old lady continued. "Well, stepbrother, in fact" she immediately corrected herself to the delight of Loki.  
"He was born on Jotunheim. That's the world of the frost giants. So Loki is in fact a frost giant, but he was raised alongside Thor by Odin. He is known as The God Of Mischief. He used his magic to pull tricks on everyone. He did very bad things with it, actually he's kind of the bad guy in some stories and…"

"That's not true!" Frigga suddenly called out.

The lady dropped the book in surprise. She looked at Frigga who suddenly looked very angry. Even Loki didn't really follow what just had happened. Was Frigga actually defending him?

"Loki isn't bad and he doesn't use his magic for bad things! He saved my sand castle!" Frigga called out, irritating a couple of the other visitors.

The old lady didn't know what she had said wrong nor did she understand what the girl was talking about. Her sand castle?  
"That's only what the book says, sweetheart…" she said softly, trying to calm the girl down.

"Well then the book is wrong!" Frigga answered angrily while she picked up the book, ready to throw it away, but the lady quickly stopped her.

"Of course, sweetheart. Now then, you give the book to me and then we'll go to the kids section. We'll find you a funny book about Spongebod, shall we?"

Frigga shook her head, still angry, and disappeared before the old lady could stop her. The lady watched the little girl in concern before putting the book back on its spot. Then she walked away, mumbling to herself that she should talk to Frigga's parents.

Loki blinked confusedly. Frigga actually believed he was… good. The young king groaned.  
_Oh damn, how she is gonne hate me when she finds out the truth…_ he thought. For some reason he was actually concerned about the girl. About his… his … niece…

Loki got to his feet and put the books back on the shelves. He didn't feel like reading anymore… With his hands in his pockets the young king slowly made his way through the endless bookcases. When he passed the section of the Norse Mythology he hesitated and looked at the book Frigga'd just taken. A part of him wanted to pick it up and read the part about Loki, but Loki couldn't do it. Besides, he knew who he was. He didn't need a book to tell him that! The book was probably full of mistakes anyway… So Loki past by the Norse Mythology section and tried to think of something else then the look of trust on Frigga's face.

Thor sighed. He hadn't found anything of interest on the Tessaract. Not that it really surprised him. For people the Tessaract only existed in legend.

Loki/Tony was standing next to him, apparently lost in thoughts. In front of him he saw Frigga and Jane, queuing to lend the books. Frigga had gathered a pile of at least five books and was telling her mother about all the books she'd had to leave behind. At long last it was their turn and after another five minutes they walked towards the exit where Thor was waiting. Frigga went silent when she saw Loki. The God of Mischief noticed, but tried to ignore her. Maybe if he could get her to disliked him, she wouldn't be so surprised when she found out the truth…

Half an hour later, Thor opened the front door. Frigga ran to her room to put away her books and Loki, who changed his appearance, sat down on the couch. Because he was lost in thoughts he didn't notice the worried expressions on Jane and Thor's faces. Both parents disappeared to their room.

Loki closed his eyes for a second. Right now he regretted their little trip to the library. What was happening to him! He was actually concerned about Frigga, about his arrogant brother's daughter…  
The young king sighed and opened his eyes again.

Frigga slowly made her way from her bed room to the living room. She tried not to make a sound while she cautiously sneaked through the house, trying to hide a book behind her back. She glanced into the living room. There was nobody there, except for Loki who was looking quite bored. As quiet as a mouse she made her way to the couch.

Loki looked up at the girl and supressed the desire to groan. He really didn't want to see her at the moment.

The little girl seemed really excited about something. She quickly looked around the room to make sure her parents weren't watching before showing Loki the book she had been hiding.

It was a rather old, dog-eared book and it seemed like it had been through several wars. The pages, wrinkled and yellow, were turning soft at the edges because of the many readers, the back had been repaired more than once with Scotch tape and it smelled ... used. The young king glanced at the cover which showed a raven haired boy on a flying broomstick. The boy wore glasses and seemed to be chasing a flying golden ball. On the back ground, Loki could see a castle and some kind of horse…

_Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone _it said and on the bottom: _J. K .ROWLING_

"What's this?" Loki asked after a couple of seconds.

"It's a book!" Frigga answered excitedly.

Loki rolled his eyes.  
"I can see that…" he said in a bored voice, but Frigga wasn't going to give up that fast.

"It's about magic!" she explained enthusiastically. "I haven't read it yet... 'cuz I can't read yet, but everybody talks about it ... and... and there're movies about it...I thought you might want something to read. I thought you might like it… because of the magic…"

Loki looked at the cover once more. He didn't really see what was magical about a boy flying on a medieval cleaning tool.

"I… I don't think Mummy noticed I brought it…" Frigga continued mysteriously. Loki waited a couple more seconds before taking the book. He had to admit: Frigga kept impressing him.

A door opened. Frigga looked up and ran to the kitchen when she recognised her parent's footsteps. Thor and Jane came in, worried expressions still covering their faces. Loki quickly put aside the book. He had the feeling something was wrong. Very wrong…  
Thor threw Loki an accusing look. The young king frowned. What had he done wrong this time, but instead of starting to shout at him, as Loki expected, both parents just ignored him and went to the kitchen.

"Frigga, sweetheart. We need to talk…" the young king heard.

"What's wrong, Mummy?" Frigga asked a little too quickly. She was obviously thinking her parents knew about the book she had brought with her for Loki. Was that so wrong?

"Miss. Collins, the lady from the library told me that you were searching for books in the Norse mythology section. She said you wanted to know more about daddy and that you got really angry with her…" Jane said.

It stayed silent for a couple of seconds. In the living room, Loki was determent to follow the conversation since it was probably about him.

"I… I just wanted to…to know… something…" Frigga stuttered. Loki could hear she was trying hard to cry. She probably thouth that her parents were angry with her...

"What did you want to know, sweetheart?" Jane asked kindly, but it was Thor who answered the question.

"Something about… about… Loki?" The God of Thunder said, knowing his brother could probably hear everything they said.

"Y… Yes…" Frigga answered timidly. Loki could hear Thor sigh.

"But why?" Jane asked cautiously.

Frigga couldn't take it anymore. Were her parents really that naïve?  
"Because nobody tells me anything!" she screamed not able to hold back the pain in her voice.

Again, a short silence filled the house, but Frigga wasn't finished yet.

"F.. First there was grandpa and then he.. he was gone. And there we knights … from Asgard and they didn't know any… anything and you n…neither, daddy! And mummy was scared and you were angry… And then you were m… mean! And you hit him! You both hit Loki, but you said that he.. he w… was your brother! So why would you h…hit him? And he said he was king! But.. But grandpa is king! And then the old lady s…said that Loki was a frost giant! But you t…told m...me that they w.. were bad and that The Allfather had … had defeated them… But the lady said that he r.. raised L…Loki and that Loki used m…magic to… do bad stu… stuff.. And she s..said.. that…" Frigga shouted between sobs.

"Frigga, Frigga!" Jane called out in a desperate attempt to stop her daughter. The little girl shut up and broke down in tears.

"Honey…" Thor tried after a couple of seconds. "You should have said something…"

"You w…wouldn't s…say anything! You…you said you w…would, but you di…didn't…" Frigga stuttered.

Loki could almost feel the look the two parents shared to before making a decision.

"All.. all right then, Frigga, we'll tell you the truth…but it's not a funny story…" Thor said not able to hide the pain and desperation in his voice. Frigga was so young, she shouldn't have to go through this already.

Loki suddenly panicked. He quickly got to his feet and tried to sneak out of the living room before the family would enter, but it was in vain.

"Oh no, forget it, you're not going anywhere, Loki!" a heavy voice sounded behind him. Loki froze in his tracks and bit his lip. He knew this would happen but, honestly, he had hoped it would … well… never happen… especially not after the trust Frigga had shown.

The young king turned around. He smiled.  
"I'm sorry, but what is this about?" he said innocently.

"Oh, please, Loki. Don't pretend like you didn't hear what we were talking about! You were way to quiet!"

"I'm always quiet!" Loki answered with a grin.

"Exactly!" Thor said bitterly. "Sit!"

Loki sighed and sat down on another chair opposite from the couch. Thor took a stool from the kitchen and put it in front of the TV screen next to Loki. Jane and Frigga sat down on the sofa. Frigga dried her tears and tried to smile.

Loki sighed. He threw a quick look on the girl in front of him and cursed under his breath. Now she was definitely going to hate him! And even worse: she would be damn scared… Frigga had been his only possible chance to convince Thor.

"All right…" Thor started. "We'll tell you everything you want to know, but you won't like everything I say…"

Frigga nodded. She was ready for this, at least, that was what was she had been telling herself the whole time.

So Thor began to talk.  
"Like Miss. Collins told you: Loki is my brother."

"Stepbrother!" Loki interrupted.

Thor suppressed the desire to shout at Loki.  
"Stepbrother…" he continued. "Miss. Collins was right. Loki wasn't born on Asgard, but on Jotunheim. After Odin had defeated the frost giants he found a baby, Laufey's son, cast out because he was too small. My father took him in and raised him as his own."

Thor waited a moment and looked at Loki. The young king just ignored him. He really hated it when people talked about Odin as if he had done a good thing by lying to him…

"It was our mother, Queen Frigga, who told Loki how to use magic. It made him the God Of Mischief, which means he … pulled tricks on everyone…" Thor continued.

Loki couldn't help to smile. _Pull tricks on everyone… _he thought _Oh please…_

Thor took a deep breath. The next part wasn't something he liked to remember…  
"A couple of years ago, before you were born, I was going to be crowned King of Asgard. It should have been my day of triumph, but Loki, who was jealous of me, had brought three Jötuns into Asgard without Heimdall noticing. They broke into the weapons vault and tried to steal…"

Thor told Frigga everything about what had happened that day. About his stupid attempt to find out how the Jotuns had entered Asgard. How he'd almost brought war upon the nine realms and how Odin banished him for what he had done. He asked Loki to tell Frigga about what had happened on Asgard during his absence, but the young king refused to talk about it, so Thor told his daughter everything he'd learned when he had returned.

Every time Loki's name was mentioned, Frigga's face turned paler nd paler. Thor didn't leave out any detail of Loki's plan to destroy Jotunheim and kill him and his friends only to impress The Allfather and Loki didn't interrupt one time…

When they reached the part where Loki returned, using the Tesseract, Frigga couldn't control her tears anymore. Slowly the young king could see every last bit of Frigga's trust in him leave her bright blue eyes.

"It was Loki who leaded the Attack of New York. He'd set up an alliance with an alien race, known as the Chitauri. In return for the Tesseract they would give him the Earth. By using a sceptre, powered by the Tesseract, he controlled a lot of people, like our friends Eric Selvig and Shield Agent Clint Barton. After The Avengers had stopped the attack, I took Loki back to Asgard where he was sentenced to spent the rest of his days in a cell."

Frigga looked at her father in disbelief before turning to Loki. The young king couldn't stand the sight of the little girl crying, knowing that everything she believed in had turned to dust in a matter of minutes.  
Frigga grabbed her mother's T-shirt, hoping to find some comfort or to prove that she was dreaming.

Jane looked at her husband. Thor swallowed. For a couple of seconds the only sound in the room were the silent sobs of Frigga.

"What's the matter, brother?" Loki suddenly said in his usual, sarcastic voice. "Don't stop now, she deserves to know everything!"

Thor looked at his brother, his eyes filled with cold hatred. "She's heard enough!" The God of Thunder said bitterly.

Loki smiled.  
"Oh really? I wonder what she might think of what _you_ did… If _you_ don't tell her, I will!"

"Right, now you want to talk! Go on then! Tell her!" Thor shouted furiously.

Loki didn't move.  
"How am I supposed to know what happened? I was rotting in my cell! Remember!" the young king hissed between clenched teeth.

Thor couldn't take it anymore. Furiously he sprang to his feet.  
"How dare you! You were there because of a reason! You should be grateful father didn't have you killed! What a pathetic king you should be! You can't even admit your own crimes!" he shouted.

Loki's eyes turned dark. Pain and sorrow filled his heart when he heard Thor use the same words as his mother had done during her last visit. The last time he'd seen her…

"Oh right, because I wanted to bring order to a world in chaos…"

"You've killed and used innocent people!" Thor shouted.

Loki sprang to his feet.  
"I did what had to be done! And don't you dare to blame me of killing the innocent. It was only a few compared to the lives you and that imbecile of a father have taken! You've killed hundreds, if not thousands. And every single one of them was only fighting for what he though was right or was forced to fight! Can you blame them for that!"

"The people of Earth were defenceless.." Thor began, but Loki was quick to interrupt.

"Really, is that what you call it…" he said with a evil grin. "The Midgardians were far from defenceless if you ask me…"

A surprised expression covered Thor face.

"Oh, yes, brother, I did my research. Those S.H.I.E.L.D. – fools were ready to blow up New York. To kill another million people! They fired a nuclear weapon and if it weren't for Stark you wouldn't even have a city to protect anymore!"

"They were desperate!" Thor tried, but he knew Loki would have an answer ready.

"Exactly my point! Midgardians are puny, pathetic creatures hiding behind their technology. In the end, the only thing their good at is destroying their own world!"

The room went silent except for Frigga's silent sobs.

A hoarse laugh broke the silence. Loki looked at his brother in disbelief. He really couldn't understand what was so funny…

"Mother was right… You _are_ perceptive about everyone but yourself…" the God of Thunder said a lot more relaxed now.

His words struck Loki like a bomb. The young king could feel the anger raging through his body.

"How dare you to drag her into this! Frigga has nothing to do with this!"

"You just don't want her to! Do you really think she would have wanted any of this?" Thor asked, knowing he'd found Loki's soft spot. He knew that it was unwise to make his brother angry, but he was to angry himself to pay attention to that...

"How would you know what she wants? She not here, is she!"

"That's exactly why we should honour her memory…" Thor tried angrily, but Loki interrupted.

"Honour! How can you even think like that after you got her killed!" Loki exclaimed furiously. His eyes were turning darker every second."You… You put me away, to rot into eternity. You were too late because you were too busy fighting a handful of unimportant prisoners. Were you really that naïve to believe it was only a stupid outbreak! You just enjoy it, don't you! Showing off! Showing how incredibly strong the Mighty Thor is… And where was Odin… No, it's always been me who has to fix your mistakes, who has to get you out, who has to do… your bloody job! Only because you are too damn stupid to see the bigger picture…"

"I know!" Thor suddenly interrupted. Loki, breathing heavily, not able to control his temper, watched his brother in surprise. A sad, yet understanding, expression covered Thor's face.

"What?" Loki asked out of breath.

"I know!" Thor repeated. "I know Frigga death is on me… I know that you would have saved her, that _you_ would have been in time…" The God of Thunder said, failing to hide the pain in his voice.

Loki watched him in astonishment. He never thouth Thor would actually take the blame. But on the other hand.. it wasn't that big of a surprise. If you tried hard enough, you could get Thor to blame himself for global warning…

"But it happened, Loki. And even though I would give everything to turn back time... to make it right and save her, it's just not possible. Fighting over it won't bring her back!" Thor finished.

Loki laughed.  
"Great!" he said sarcastically. "So what now… Maybe we should put _you_ in a cell now… Oh but wait… We should banish you! Give you a second chance! Punish you by giving you the opportunity to show off again!" the young king shouted.

Thor frowned. Was that it? Was that why Loki hated him so much? Because Odin gave him a second chance?

"Loki… The Allfather only banished me because…"

"Because you were supposed to be king!" the young king hissed, spitting out every word like it was something disgusting. "I honestly thought, those first days, he would make me king in your place, but that was never going to happen, no matter how hard I tried…"

"You know that is not true…" Thor tried once again, but Loki was too angry to listen.

"Don't give me that crap, Thor! I was never going to be your equal. I am a filthy frost giant and I will always will be! I was nothing to that disgusting piece of a liar! Nothing more than a sop, a backup plan... only good for peacekeeping if necessary!" he shouted furiously. Loki knew he was giving to much away. He never wanted Thor to know all this, it made him look and feel week. But at the moment nothing mattered anymore. The rage filled his body from top to bottom. He could feel the energy crackling on his skin like electricity.

"Loki, father loved you, just as much as mother loved you.. as we all did. Father never wanted to…"

"Odin! Is! Not! My! Father!" Loki finally called out, not able to hide the deception and grief in his words.

The young king clenched his fists, trying to hold back the upcoming energy wave, but it was in vain. The second Loki's words had left his lips a powerful shockwave, departing from Loki's body, flooded the room. Thor was thrown back and landed painfully on the TV screen which was crushed under his weight. Everything else in the room broke or was blasted away. The couch, with Jane and Frigga still on it, tilted backwards and covered them – unintendedly – against the flying books, bowls and glass shards.

Loki closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. With a lot of effort he managed to breath out.

The young king opened his eyes. To his astonishment he felled how a single tear slowly made its way down his cheek. Slowly he lifted his hand to catch the tear with his fingertips. Loki brought his hand in front of his eyes and stared at the small drop of salty water, dangling at his left index finger. He frowned in disbelief. He was actually crying… He never cried! Well, almost never… Not anymore…

A new wave of pure anger filled his body. Again a simple truth became clear for his eyes: he hated Thor with every fibre of his existence!

The young king clenched his fists, crushing the tear. Without saying a word or even paying any attention to the damage he'd done, Loki turned around and left the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

"Loki! Wait!" Thor called out while he tried to escape from a network of tangled wires, but The God of Mischief was gone.

Thor who was tired of trying to untie the wires, just ripped them apart and hurried to the couch.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly seeing Jane's white face.

"What are you doing!" the scared mother exclaimed while she tried to get Frigga to blink again. "Get after him! Who knows where he's going?"

Thor shook his head. "Don't worry, I know where he's going…" he said convincingly while pulling the couch up straight again.

"Now… help me clean up this mess…"

* * *

I hope you liked it (I certainly liked writing it :D)

I'm really sorry, but it's possible that the next upload will take some time. The end of Easter holidays in getting near so that means: school = homework :(

Yet, I won't forget you guys, that's a promise ;)

Anyway, let me know what you think

Please review! :)


	12. Chapter 11

Hi everyone! I know: it took a while... sorry! I really hope you'll like it!

* * *

_**Chapter 11**_

Loki ran up the stairs. Floor after floor, until he lost count. Finally, he blasted open the door leading to the roof and ran outside. It was already dark and the moon and stars lit up the black sky. The young king didn't know where he was, what he had done and what he was gonna do, but it didn't matter anymore. He'd had enough!

Loki grabbed his head while he ran further on the roof. He wanted to scream. To scream out all his frustration, but all he could think off was that look of pure terror on Frigga's face. She had been so scared, so terrified… of him!

"How could I've been so stupid!" he shouted. Why did every plan of his had to turn out bad… It all had looked so perfect in the beginning. Why did he let Thor go in the first place! He had been right there, right in front of him. He could have stopped him from leaving, but he didn't because he thought Thor could be useful later and because the prince was too dangerous to keep on Asgard, even imprisoned.

"Heimdal! Open the Bifröst now!" Loki shouted to the sky. He didn't care that he was standing on top a building the Bifröst would probably destroy… He didn't care he was in the middle of the city… All he wanted was to go back.

"Heimdal, you bloody idiot! Open the Bifröst now! I command you!" Still nothing happened.

Loki could feel the energy running over his skin, creating new shockwaves, but he didn't care. He was too angry to give a damn.

"I told him, didn't I?" Loki called out pacing around the roof. "I told Thor the truth, isn't that what you wanted? Now open the Bifröst!"

Loki's word echoed in the wind until he couldn't hear anything, but the sounds of the never sleeping city beneath him. The young king walked to the side of the roof and looked over the barrier to the street underneath him. He placed his hands on the cold stone and bend over, breathing heavily, like he'd just ran a marathon.

"Sure.." he whispered with a broken voice. "Just ignore me… just hate me… like everybody else…"

The young let out a frustrated breath and turned around, allowing himself to sit down on the edge. He took his head in his hand and just listened to the noises around him for a moment. For the first time ever he actually felt lonely… He'd always been lonely, but it never really bothered him. But now, it almost felt like he was completely alone in the world, in the universe.

Loki rubbed his temples. "Just get used to it, idiot!" he whispered to himself. "You're never gonna win, not from Thor, not from anyone… You know why?"

Loki got on his feet and started pacing around the roof again, trying to keep himself calm.  
"Because you're the damn bad guy, Loki! And the bad guys never win, they never get … happy endings…" Loki shouted thinking of what his mother always used to say after a story or when he'd woken up from a nightmare.

(MEMORY)

"Can't you sleep, Loki?"

The young prince shook his head, forcing his tears of fright to return to where they came from. He pulled up his sheet until only his light grey eyes were visible. Frigga smiled and walked in the dark room. She set down on the side of Loki's huge bed and softly touched her son's sweating forehead. The little boy shivered under her cold touch, but relaxed when he saw her kind smile.

"Did you have another nightmare?" she asked after a short silence.

The young prince first shook his head furiously, but after his mother's meaningful look he slowly nodded. Why couldn't he be as brave as his brother? Thor never had nightmares! At least he said he didn't…

"What was it about?" Frigga asked in a whisper coming closer to her son's face, as she always did when Loki was going to tell her a secret.

Loki cautiously let go of the sheet and looked at his mother. He bid his lip. It wasn't really courageous or anything to tell your mother about your nightmares. What if Thor found out? He would laugh at him for years to come…

Frigga noticed Loki's hesitation and looked around the room, as if she was checking if anyone was watching. Then she leaned over to Loki and smiled her mysterious smile. Her eyes lit up for a second and Loki already knew what she was going to say, before the words left her mouth.  
"It's our little secret!"

The young prince smiled.  
"Father told us about the frost giants today, mother… And Thor said he was going to kill all of them. We said we were ready for it… But…I wasn't scared or anything… but I was thinking… What if we have to fight the frost giants one day, mother? What if I can't do it? What if I'm too weak? Thor is always talking about fighting and he's also really good at it, but I'm not… even Sif is better than me… and she's a girl!" the young prince said with a embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

Frigga waited before answering. She could see that her son was still struggling to tell her the real problem. After a short silence, Loki continued.

"What if something would happen to Thor? What if I couldn't protect him? What if he d… dies because of… me…"

Frigga frowned. "Is that what your nightmare was about?"

Loki nodded. "They were everywhere, mother. And I couldn't move, I was so scared, but Thor…"

Frigga stopped her son from talking. Loki's big puppy dog eyes looked up at her.

"First of all: it's not because your brother is better now that it will stay that way. And I've been teaching you magic, I think you'll be more then capable to protect Thor from about anything… I even think you're already protecting him right now… every day!" Frigga added in a whisper.

"Secondly, there is one thing you need to keep in mind!"

Loki looked at his mother expectantly. She smiled an put a lock of his black hair behind his ear before continuing.

"When your father told you the story of the frost giants… what were the frost giants in the story?"

Loki frowned. "The… the bad guys…" he answered softly.

His mother smiled again, her eyes lit up. Another secret was coming! Loki went even more silent while he eagerly waited for his mother's advice.

"There's one thing you should know about bad guys…" she said before leaning over again to whisper in her son's ear. "The bad guys never win, they never get to live happily ever after…"

(END MEMORY)

Loki never really thought of himself as the _bad guy_… But after what he'd heard in the library…

And it was all so obvious… he was a frost giant! He'd been the _bad guy _ever since he was born!

The young king sighed and stroke back his hair. That's when he realised he'd fucked up… he really messed up this time… Now Thor would never believe he could be king, a good king!

-xxx-

Loki groaned and turned around. He was now sitting on the edge of the building, feet dangling down. The height didn't really frighten him. Loki just sat there, thinking over the times he used to spend with his mother. Why didn't she ever tell him? All right, that Odin was a senile liar… he could live with that, but Frigga? She never lied to him, about anything. But even when she knew who and what her son was, she still portrayed the frost giants as _bad guys_. Loki wondered if Odin or Frigga would have told him anyway… Probably not… If it weren't for that "unfortunate" moment in Jotunheim, they would – probably – only tell him when it was necessary… When he was _needed… _The young king scowled and looked down at the cars and people beneath him. For a moment he thought about jumping, but he was quite sure the fall wouldn't kill him. It would probably just hurt, really, really bad!

Loki shook his head. What was he thinking! Now he even started to think as those puny humans!

Still, though... there was one thing the young king just couldn't quite understand… Neither Odin, nor Frigga had told Thor anything about his true nature. Not even when he came of age… Why not?

Immediately Loki had to think of what Odin had said.

_I wanted only to protect you from the truth…_

The young king sniggered. What a great job Odin had done protecting him…

Loki sat quietly for another ten minutes, staring down, thinking about Asgard. About Heimdall and how he probably was enjoying the sight of him messing up brilliantly…

A sudden sound sounded through the night. Loki didn't turn around, he just listened. Someone had come up the stairs and almost tripped over the door he had ripped out off the wall. It wasn't Thor, Loki was sure of that. He would have heard his brother coming from two floors down. So who was it then? It had to be someone who knew Loki, because every rational mind would have turned around at the side of the destroyed door.

The young king still refused to look. The stumbling had stopped. Whoever it was, he or she was clearly hesitating to come further. Was it Frigga? What was she doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be hiding under her blanket? Curled up in her bed, crying…

The steps came closer. Loki could feel a pair of staring eyes in his neck.

"You're not gonna jump, are you?" a female voice sounded through the night. Loki was surprised. Jane Foster… Why did she come up? He still didn't turn around nor did he answer.

Jane wasn't going to give up that fast. Carefully she walked closer until she knew Loki could see her. She hesitated. Would she go sit next to the God of Mischief? Would he push her of the roof? Jane decided to ignore her instincts and sit down next to Loki, making sure she didn't look down. Heights weren't really her idea of comfortable. She looked at Loki, expecting some kind of reaction but he didn't move.

"Thor thought you would be here… Seems like he was right… He said you always used to sit on the roof after a fight…" Jane started while she fixed her eyes on the top of the Empire State Building. _Don't look down, don't look down…_

Loki still didn't respond. He just stared into the night, no expression on his face. Jane sighed.

"Oh, come on! You just blew up my house! The least you can do is talk to me…"

Loki sniggered.  
"If I wanted to blow up your house, I would have blown up the whole block. That was far from an explosion…"

Jane pulled up her eyebrows. Oh well, at least he was talking to her… She hesitated to ask the next question. She had been thinking about it quite some time and she knew what Loki's reaction would be, but still…

"Why… Why do you hate him so much." She asked. "Why do you hate your brother that much…"

Jane bit her lip. What now? She expected Loki to start shouting stuff like :"He's not my brother!" or at least an expression of pure surprise, but what happened was something entirely else…

The young king didn't do anything!

Jane waited. She had the feeling Loki would answer… He had to!

After a couple of minutes the God of Mischief opened his mouth.  
"I don't hate my brother! I never have…" he said softly.

Jane blinked confusedly. Did she miss something?  
"Then you should know that destroying someone's house is the wrong way of showing that…"

Loki sniggered. "I never hated my brother.. I just hate Thor!"

"Do you have any kind of other brother then? Because I'm not following…"

Loki stayed silent for a moment, overthinking his words.  
"People always seem to forget Thor and I had a life before all… this… Quite a long one by the way…"

Jane nodded. "Your point being…"

Loki sighed. "It's really not that hard to understand!" he said more harshly then he initially meant.  
"Thor and I grew up together, side by side, no matter what happened in the end. We were the princes of Asgard and even though we knew that every single citizen of our world would gladly lay down his life to protect us, we knew that - in the end – we only had each other. We looked after one another, even though Thor's always been a little brat."

"So, back then you didn't hate him…" Jane asked. It was hard to think of Loki like that after everything that had happened.

Loki looked at the woman next to him. "Yes… is that so surprising?"

"Yes!" Jane answered a little too quickly.

Loki looked at her for a couple more seconds, overthinking Jane's reaction. He sighed and shook his head.  
"You should thank me! If it weren't for me, you probably would never have met Thor in the first place…"

Jane's first reaction was to say: "If it were up to you, Thor would be dead already!", but Loki's words made her keep her mouth shut. Neither of them said a word and silence filled the air.

"Thank you…" Jane suddenly said softly after a couple of minutes. Loki looked up in surprise. He hadn't exactly expected her to actually thank him, but he refused to let Jane see that.

"For… everything…" Jane continued cautiously.

This time Loki couldn't hide his surprise.  
"Everything meaning what exactly?" he asked after a short silence.

"Everything you've done for Frigga…"

Loki swallowed. "If I'm not mistaking: your daughter hates me and is terrified… of me…"

Jane rolled with her eyes. "What is it with you and 'hating'…"

Loki didn't answer so Jane went on.  
"Frigga doesn't hate you and she's not scared of you… at least not for ever…."

Loki rolled his eyes, but Jane wasn't finished yet.

"My point is that you managed to make her trust you! I put her in bed just ten minutes ago and you know what she said? 'He still saved my castle, Mummy!'"

Loki frowned.

Jane understood she finally had Loki's full attention.  
"Just so you know: Frigga gets bullied at school. There're a couple of guys there who think it's funny to bully my little girl. She has a really hard time trusting people, but she decided to trust you of all people."

Jane's words echoed through the night. Her voice broke. She never really talked about the fact that her daughter was bullied. Even Thor didn't know. They had decided that it was safer if Thor didn't show up as Frigga's father. There was a big chance that all those _Avenger-obsessed_ kids would recognise him. For as far as the school knew, Frigga's father travelled a lot and was barely at home. Therefor Jane took care of all the school business.

She'd never told Thor because she was almost certain her husband would teach those kids a lesson himself.

"I'm not saying that I agree with that, but my little girl seems to trust you. If she wants to give you a chance then I'm ready to do the same…"

Loki didn't know what he was hearing. Was this a dream? Was he sleeping? Was he hallucinating?

Jane could feel the tense situation reach its peak and decided to quickly add something.  
"But, honestly, blowing up my house isn't my idea of a new chance…" she said with a smile.

Loki smiled and Jane was almost certain there was something different about that smile. It wasn't the sinister grin she'd grown used to, no, what she saw was a real smile…

-xxx-

Loki didn't quite understand what was happening to him. Feelings he'd never felt before in his life started to take over his heart. Feelings he could only describe as some kind of happiness… some kind of …proud…

Jane hesitated to ask the next question. She'd been thinking about it a lot these last days, but she was scared of Loki's reaction. After a minute of fighting against her rational sense she finally opened her mouth.  
"What was… What did I… Did I…" she started, but the words just didn't seem to find the right way to form the sentence.

Jane took a deep breath and tried again.  
"Did I say something wrong about… The Tesseract?"

Loki froze and clenched his teeth.

Jane immediately regretted asking the question. Why did she even ask! She'd finally managed to get Loki to open up. Just a bit! Jane sighed, but made sure the god of Mischief couldn't hear it.

Oh well… Jane knew Loki wouldn't say anything anymore. She was ready to leave when Loki opened his mouth.

"You have to stop!" the young king said softly.

Jane looked at him in surprise, alarmed by the scared tone in his voice. "Excuse me?"  
Jane's eyes fixed on Loki's trembling hands. It was obvious he was trying to hide it, but his clenched jaws and rapidly blinking eyes betrayed him.

Loki sighed and closed his eyes. He knew that tone… Jane'd noticed he was scared. _Damn! _

"You have to stop!" he repeated in a stronger voice. "Stark has to stop!"

Jane frowned. Honestly, she was surprised… Loki, The God of Mischief, the monster that attacked New York, killed innocent people, faked his own death and murdered his own father was actually scared to death!

"I suppose you mean the Tesseract?" she asked cautiously.

"You can't make a new Tesseract, you'll need some kind of ancient dark magic. But you, especially Stark, can make an equal power source! You have no idea what kind of danger you're putting yourself and everybody else in!" Loki answered while fixing his eyes on the women next to him.

Jane immediately wanted to sigh and say something like: "What is it with that Tesseract! Why does everybody think we're going to use it for bad purposes!", but Loki's words and serious look, not to mention the now obvious fear in his voice, convinced Jane to keep her mouth shut.

"All right…" she said after she'd made sure the young king wasn't playing with her… For some reason Loki's words had more effect on her then Thor's endless speeches about the dangers of the Tesseract. She wasn't going to stop her research, of course, she'd put way to much work in it to just give it up now, but she promised herself she would look in to the potential danger the Tesseract could be.

Loki nodded and looked back at the city. He still wasn't able to stop his hands from trembling and it was starting to annoy him! Why couldn't he just let it go!

-xxx-

Jane was lost in thoughts. The sudden screeching sound of two cars crushing into each other woke her up. Automatically she looked down. Oh dear… why did she do that!

The moment Jane's brain registered the height, everything started spinning.

_Oh my God! I'm soooo high!_

Colours faded and melted together to a messy compound. Nothing made sense anymore.

_Don't look down! Don't look down!_

But it was too late. Jane knew she was about fall, but another part of her brain shouted that she was all right. She knew she _was _falling! Falling forward! Falling down! Jane stopped breathing. Her heart skipped a couple of beats. Everything was turning and spinning. She heard screaming! Was that her voice or was it all happening inside her head? It had to be because she could still feel the cold stone of the roof under her slipping fingers. Or was it above her? Was it even there? Where was she anyway…

A strong hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backwards. Jane had the feeling she was turning upside down. Again and again. Or wasn't she?

Jane fixed all her attention on the hand on her shoulder. She squeezed her eyes shut. Slowly the sounds of the city found there place again. Under was under again and above was above. Carefully Jane opened her eyes It was then she noticed she'd been holding her breath. She breathed out and looked at Loki who was watching her with a playful grin on his face. He was clearly enjoying this! His hand lay on Jan's shoulder making sure she wouldn't fall over.

"Don't tell me you're scared of heights! Just in case you didn't notice, you're married to The God Of Thunder who likes to fly around in his spare time…"

"Thank you…" Jane squeaked while she tried to smile. Everything had happened in a matter of seconds, but Jane felt like she'd just run a marathon… twice…

Loki nodded and let go of Jane's shoulder. That was the second "thank you" he'd got within ten minutes. It made him feel really uncomfortable.

-xxx-

Jane fixed her eyes on the city making sure she didn't look down. She was still trembling with fear. After a couple of minutes, Jane had finally calmed down a little bit. She looked at Loki, but the God of Mischief just ignored her, so Jane slowly turned around – _Don't look down!_ – and put her feet on the roof. She couldn't suppress a sigh of relief.

Jane got to her feet and looked at Loki. She hesitated. Could she just leave him like that? Here, alone on the roof? But the young king didn't seem to make any attempt to get up so after some more hesitation, Jane decided to leave. She made her way to the door – or what was left of it – but turned around halfway. There was something she had to say. Something she should have said a long time ago…

"And thank you for saving my life back on Svartalfheim… you pushed me out of the way when that bomb-thing went of… could of killed yourself… just wanted to say thank you…" she said with a smile. Loki didn't respond so Jane just turned around and disappeared.

-xxx-

Loki waited until Jane's footsteps had faded before breathing out. He closed his eyes, put his palms together and touched his lips with his fingers. He had to think. Jane had thanked him four times… four "thank yous".. in the same night!

The young king shivered. He knew what he wanted right now. He wanted his mother to walk through that door or to just appear next to him like she'd done when he was in his cell. She would know what to do with these knew feelings.. she would be able to tell him what to do…

For once Loki allowed a couple of lonely tears to leave his eyes. He opened his eyes and looked at his hands. He concentrated. Slowly a small green light started to glow in between his palms. Loki moved his hands away from each other bit by bit. Every second the light grew bigger and stronger until a bright ball of pure light was dancing between his fingers. Loki stared at the light. Afterwards he slowly lifted the ball above his head to the sky.

The young king took a deep breath.

"Fare well, mother…" he whispered while he lett the ball go. It slowly floated skywards. Loki watched it until the ball was nothing more than a bright star, glowing in the dark sky…

* * *

There you go... Hope you liked it!

I'm really sorry it took so long, but I got sooooooo much work for school! It's just crazy! I'll try uploading as soon as possible ;)

Let me know what you think!

Please review!

;)


	13. Chapter 12

Hey everybody! I know, it took really long... :( But, at the moment, I spending my time on studying those stupid test :( please forgive me...

Hope you enjoy it anyway...

* * *

_**Chapter 12**_

Loki took a deep breath and forced the last tears to disappear. Slowly he turned around and got to his feet. Lost in thoughts, he made his way back to the door, or in other words: the hole in the wall…

The young king looked down at the wood of the door, still lying in front of him and frowned. He couldn't just leave it like that… So he picked it up and just put it next to the door… Really, no one actually expected him to put it back where it was supposed to be… right…

Loki descended the stairs. Floor after floor… he was too far gone to notice… Suddenly, a soft sound echoed through the silent building. It was the sound of footsteps… footsteps coming up! Loki quickly changed his appearance. Just in time! A shadow appeared on the dusty floor. A small shadow, showing that someone was about to turn around the corner. Loki tried to look casual. He really didn't want any old irritating woman to start a boring and useless conversation. But it wasn't an old woman… on the contrary...

"Frigga?" Loki said in surprise before he could stop himself. The little girl, dressed in cute pink pyjamas first didn't recognize the strange man before her, but when she did, her expression immediately changed into one of pure fright! She swallowed and froze.  
Loki sighed. He'd almost forgotten the events of that unfortunate night. He looked at the girl in front of him and wondered why she wasn't screaming or running or fainting or just doing something! Maybe what Jane had said was true… Maybe she was still trusting him…

Loki cleared his throat.  
"Don't you have to be in bed right now?" he asked. God, it was difficult to be nice to people! Especially when they're looking at you with big eyes, ready to pop out of their faces!

Frigga shivered when she heard Loki's voice coming out of "Tony's" mouth. The young king clearly didn't bother to much with his appearance in the company of someone who knew him.

The little girl swallowed. She really didn't know what to think of Loki anymore. She just couldn't understand that someone she'd believed in with all her heart could be so … bad…

"I…I…" Frigga stuttered. She took a deep breath. The "Asgardian-part" of her was too proud to show any fear. So the little girl put up a poker face.

"I was on my way to the roof…" Frigga said. She had to try really hard not to show any emotion. Loki pulled up his eyebrows and Frigga gave up. She didn't understand how Loki always managed to keep up his poker face…

Her fear became visible again in her bright blue eyes. "I…eeeh… I always go up when I …eeeh… can't sleep…"

Even though Frigga's lie was quite believable, Loki was trained to notice them. Again he couldn't help to be impressed.

"You mean: when you have a nightmare?" he asked surprisingly kind. Frigga slowly nodded. How did he know that?

The young king smiled once more. He'd just found another thing he and his niece… well… Frigga had in common, which was – in fact – impressive since the two of them weren't related at all… But still…

Loki suddenly realised Frigga'd probably had a nightmare about him. He cleared his throat and tried not to think of that fact.

"Do you parents know you.. go to the roof?" Loki asked as casually as possible. Frigga, who didn't really know what to do with Loki's nice behaviour, shook her head. Weren't bad guys supposed to be… bad… at all times?

Loki sniggered and turned his appearance again into his own. There was no use to spill energy if it wasn't necessary. Frigga shivered.

"So…" Loki continued. "There's never been anyone who came to talk to you…"

Frigga shook her head again and the young king realised she'd probably spend a lot of time on the roof. Loki hesitated. The weirdest idea had just appeared in his mind.

"Do you want someone to listen?" he ask after a couple of seconds. Frigga frowned and automatically shook her head. She wanted to be alone! That was the point of going to the roof.  
Loki smiled. He recognized that look. He'd done the same thing every time his mother came sitting next to him.

The young king took a step back and gestured that Frigga could pass. The little girl looked surprised and frowned once more. Cautiously she passed Loki. The God of Mischief lowered his outstretched arm and gestured to the stairs. After some hesitation Frigga turned her back to him and started climbing the stairs leading to the roof with Loki in her wake. When they reached the roof, Frigga immediately walked to the edge. Loki followed.

"You're not scared of heights?" he asked after a couple of silent seconds. Frigga shivered in the cold night - she should have brought a sweater – and wondered if she was going to answer. She had to admit: it felt strange… someone being here, offering to talk… She never talked! She just came up here and ordered whatever thoughts were racing through her mind.

A few minutes later, Frigga finally decided that she rather enjoyed the company. At least she didn't feel so alone…

"No, I'm not scared!" she said with a strong voice. "I'm not scared of … anything!"

Loki smiled softly. He knew Frigga was going to say "anyone"… she probably wanted to hide her fear for him…

"So… are you going to tell me what the nightmare was about?" the young king asked, surprised to hear the question coming from his mouth. He already knew the answer… She'd dreamed of him! Frigga's hesitation conformed his thoughts.

"Do people change?" the little girl suddenly asked.

Loki frowned. He didn't quite understand the question, but knowing Frigga, he was sure she knew what she was talking about. Was she referring to him? Sometimes the little girl managed to amaze the young king. After all, she was the same girl who could talk hours and hours about being a princess…

"I'm not people…"Loki finally said. He had the feeling that their conversation only existed of short questions and sentences and long pauses.

"But do they?" Frigga asked after she'd deciphered Loki's answer.

"No!" The God of Mischief simply said. He scowled. No, people, puny humans, never changed!

"Good thing you're not human then!" Frigga said with a smile. Loki opened his mouth to answer but the words never left his lips. Again he was struck back by the girl's logic. The young king sighed.

"If you want a perfect good guy, you should go to your father…"

"My teacher always says: there are no heroes without the villains…" Frigga said silently, while thinking of the endless speeches of her teacher, Miss. Jackson. The middle-aged, greying lady loved to teach her class everything about what was good and what was evil. But with the current _Avenger hype,_ she just couldn't stop talking about the deeper meaning of the Avengers, the heroes. After all, if the Chitauri wouldn't have been there to attack the city, The Avengers probably would have been portrayed as dangerous, as potential bad guys.

Loki looked at the girl and wondered what kind of crazy teacher his niece… Frigga should have. Seriously, she was only five!

" There's a boy is my class.. his father was killed during the Battle of New York. He doesn't remember, but his older brother does. And my teacher's niece died too…"

Loki closed his eyes. The hurt in Frigga's voice gave him the creeps. He knew people had died. Lots and lots of people, but he never actually cared about any of them. One human less… who cared! But Frigga seemed hurt… Why would she care about somebody she probably never knew?

"Did you kill anyone? I mean… on purpose…"

Loki wanted to pull up his shoulders, but the fright in Frigga's voice stopped him. He didn't answer…

"And did you really kill Odin?" the little girl continued, trying to hide the fear in her words. Loki bit his lip…

"I think it's time for you to go back to bed…" he said after a couple of seconds. The young king expected her to start arguing, but Frigga just turned around and quickly made her way back to the stairs. Loki watched her and wondered if she'd run away because she was still scared of him. He cautiously followed. At the top of the stairs he looked down… Frigga'd already disappeared. Only the silent footsteps gave away the little girl running back to her apartment.

-xxx-

Silently Loki opened the front door of the apartment. He'd been standing in the hallway for at least ten minutes, staring at the big, sliver "17" shining on the door before deciding to stay. He didn't really have anywhere to go anyway…

The God of Mischief softly made his way to the spare bedroom. When he passed Frigga's room, he listened at the door to hear if she was still awake. The muted sobs gave him the answer. For the first time in years, Loki actually felt… guilty…

Back in his room, Loki threw a glare on the digital watch. 11:46 it said in big red numbers. The young king sighed and lay down on the bed. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to fall asleep, but for some reason he just wouldn't.

-xxx-

Frigga pulled the blanket further over her head. It was covered in a pattern of stars. Frigga searched the fabric bit by bit, lighting it up with her flashlight. The tears kept coming out of her eyes and blurred her vision. But, honestly, that made it look realer then it had ever done before. Again she wished with all her heart she could fly across those stars. To see all the worlds out there, waiting to be explored! But she knew she probably wouldn't get any farther then her blanket.

Again two big tears dropped on her already soaked teddy bear. Why she was crying? Frigga didn't know. There was so much on her mind, so much to cry about. Only yesterday she'd been one hundred percent sure she wanted to know the truth about… everything, but know she wished she'd never asked. Again she'd lost everything!

After four years of being teased and bullied at school, Frigga had decided that the people of this world just weren't meant to like her. Not meant to be her friends. That wasn't their fault off course… maybe they could sense she wasn't completely like them, but at the end she was still all alone. Every night, Frigga had prayed to about every God she knew, to send her to Asgard. She was sure of it! She would find friends there! There where she belonged! And then, out of nowhere, a real Asgardian came to her, doing the most spectacular things she'd ever seen in her life! But now… even Loki couldn't be her friend! Because he was a murderer! And besides… he probably didn't even like her! Why would he? No one did after all!

"People just don't like you!" Frigga muttered to herself while making the light of her flashlight dance around a faraway solar system.

_But why not? _she thought. Was it because she was something in between? Because she was an Asgardian but also a Midgardian? Did she belong somewhere? Probably not!

Frigga switched out the flashlight an threw it across the room. With a loud bang it hit her door. Frigga curled herself and her teddy bear up under the blanket again and wept silently in the dark. Only the pink numbers of her princesses digital clock lit up her room. It said 05:04 when Frigga woke up from an uneasy sleep because of a sudden sound coming from the room next to her's.

-xxx-

"_No Loki!" Odin says in a low voice, his eyes not once leaving mine… I see sadness, betrayal, disappointment… I knew I'd messed up… again… there was just no way of doing things right! Not for him! Not if Thor was there to show off again!_

_I felt my fingers loose the grip on the golden sceptre I'd been holding as if it were my own, just a couple of seconds ago!_

"_Loki! NO!" Thor's hoarse voice echoed behind me while I fell. My eyes locked on my father's, not able to look away, even though I wanted to. I was falling, faster and faster! I was falling in space! A place where you're not supposed to fall anyway, but the black wormhole behind me was doing its work brilliantly! _

_Thor's voice faded away while an incredible force dragged me to my death. I slowly turned, my view was changing. For the last time I saw my brother, dangling down at the golden sceptre which would soon be his. His mouth in a soundless scream.. my name, I supposed. And my father, that lying piece of a king. No not my father! Odin! The Allfather! He was never my father! It was all a lie! My life had been a lie. Only now, while I turned my back to the people I once called family, I could see the truth. It was a shame Frigga wasn't here. The last time I'd seen my mother she'd looked at me with her eyes filled with an unbelievable amount of grief, disbelieve, betrayal and… love…. If only she were here… On the moment I was going to die… _

Loki screamed and rolled out of the bed, landing on the floor. He opened his eyes and looked up at the white ceiling which was covered in the red light of the morning sun. Cold sweat shone on his forehead making his raven hair stick to his face. Also his clothes felt wet and sweaty. Loki tried to calm his fast beating heart and to get his breath under control. Oh God, he hated nightmares! Did he scream? Did anyone hear him? Loki swallowed and breathed out. He closed his eyes for a second and forced the image of that unfaithful moment to disappear. Cautiously he dragged himself back on the bed. The pillowcase and blanket were soaked with sweat, but the young king didn't really care. One look on the alarm clock made him frown in surprise. 05:21 it said. Normally he would have been up already. Probably because he fell asleep to late the night before. Actually he didn't really remember falling asleep at all! Surprisingly, the young king still felt tired. After a another sigh he closed his eyes again and pretended his mother was standing next to him, just as she used to do when he was a kid…

Slowly, the sleep got its grip on the young king and he drove off into an uneasy sleep, not noticing the two worried, bright, blue eyes staring through the tin gap of the door.

-xxx-

A soft knock on the door of his room woke the young king up. He opened his tired eyes and concluded he felt like shit, after which he closed his eyes again and let his head fall back – face down – in the pillow.

Jane slowly opened the door and looked into the room. She hadn't been sure Loki had returned.

"You don't want any breakfast?" she asked. Her eyes looked across the room. For some reason it didn't feel right. Everything looked… perfect. Loki was sitting on the made up bed, legs crossed, reading a book. He didn't even look up and Jane decided to leave again. She threw one last look on the room and frowned. Something was not right… she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Jane closed the door and walked over to Frigga's room. Just before she opened the door leading to her daughters room, she turned around again, the same frown still covering her face. Was Loki using magic? Was that what she just saw? An illusion? Why in the world would he do that? Was he really back? Could he do that? Creating an illusion, so far away from the apartment? Jane decided he couldn't. She would check up on Loki again later that day.

-xxx-

Loki groaned. He'd had more nightmares than ever before, but like always the first one had been the worst. The young king breathed out and dropped the illusion he'd put on the room to keep Jane from seeing him the way he was. He really hated it when people saw him suffer, when they saw he was vulnerable.

-xxx-

"Sweetheart? Have you seen my keys?" Jane called through the house. Thor came rushing out of the bathroom, toothbrush still in his mouth.

"Thevve on tve kipven tablve!" he said through a mouth full of minty toothpaste. Jane nodded and ran past the broken TV screen to the kitchen where she found her daughter having breakfast… quite literally… Frigga had fallen asleep with her head in her fresh bowl of chocolate cornflakes.

"Frigga!" Jane shouted. The little girl immediately sat upstraight looking around the room confusedly. She caught her mother's eye and froze.

Jane looked at her daughter in disbelieve. Frigga never fell asleep like that! Did she sleep tonight? Or had the events of the day before had more impact on the little girl then she thought?

"I'm sorry Mummy!" Frigga immediately stuttered while she was searching for a towel so she could wipe of the milk of her face. She couldn't believe she'd actually fallen asleep! On the other hand, it wasn't that big of a surprise… Only five minutes before her mother had opened her door, she'd managed to fall asleep. The whole night, she'd heart Loki toss and turn in his bed, tortured by one nightmare after the other. Good thing she didn't have to go to school today… Sadly, her parents both had to go to work. That meant she would soon be joined by Miss Lumiere, un old women who lived two apartments under them and was addicted to cats and parakeets, un unfortunate combination.

Originally she came from Quebec and she just loved to entertain Frigga with her endless stories about her late-husband, about her grandparents and their parents before, about how her family was one of the oldest in America and how they had been the first to arrive in what would be known as Quebec. Frigga was almost certain her story was far from the truth, but it didn't matter what she thought…. Miss Lumiere would always have some old photo graphs of long gone cats ready whenever she noticed she'd lost Frigga's attention. Honestly, every time the little girl heard her parents talk about their "neighbour" she always got a weird sensation in her tummy and quickly imagined her babysit turning into the talking candle from Belle and The Beast.

Again Frigga knew she was going to have a boring day full of cats and parakeets. She sighed. Now she was certainly going to fall asleep!

Jane didn't really know what to say to her daughter, but she could see Frigga was extremely tired and not looking forward to the rest of the day. She reminded herself to look for a different babysit, because even though Miss Lumiere was the sweetest lady in the world, nobody could deny her efficiency as a lullaby…

"Maybe she'll take you to the park today…" Jane said a couple of seconds later while picking up the keys she was searching for.

Frigga threw a tired look on her mother and Jane sighed. Who was she kidding… Jane softly touched her daughter's cheek and smiled before kissing her on the forehead.

Just that moment, a tired looking Loki walked into the kitchen, straight to the fridge, to get himself a coke. Jane smiled relieved. Loki was still here, whatever it was she had seen that morning, there was no reason to panic yet… All though… Loki did look rather exhausted… Jane reminded herself that she didn't know when Loki had come down during the night…. Suddenly another thought crossed her mind. Loki would be alone all day… in her house… after a fight…. One look on the state of the living room only made her fears worse… Thor, who just left the bathroom seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Loki didn't notice the sudden silence and opened up a can and sipped of the soda. He turned around and found the two parents staring at him… He sighed, he really didn't feel like talking nor listening. So he just ignored them and sat down on a chair opposite of Frigga, who was falling asleep again.

Thor walked in the kitchen. He knew it was better to leave Loki alone at the moment, especially after the fight they'd had yesterday. In fact, he was surprised Loki had returned. While thinking of what he would say, Thor walk towards the coffee machine. After he'd poured himself a cup of hot, fresh coffee, he cleared his throat and turned to Loki again, is eyes meeting Jane's while he did. Loki just kept ignoring them and watched Frigga's eyes close again while her head steadily made its way back to the bowl.

"Loki, We both have to go working today…" Thor began cautiously. His brother sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Let me guess…" he said before Thor could continue. "You can't leave me alone… because I'll probably create a wormhole which would suck up the whole block…"

Thor closed his eyes and reminded himself not to get angry with Loki.

"I want you to come with me!" he said. Loki looked up in surprise. He hadn't really thought of any possible "solutions" but this was the last thing he'd expected.

"Thank you for the offer!" the young king said sarcastically. "But I am not going to look on your idiotic face all day!"

"Well, you're not staying here on your own all day, either!" Thor almost shouted.

Frigga, who had been fighting off the sleep during the last five minutes, suddenly got an idea. She opened her eyes and jumped on her feet.

"Daddy!" she shouted in excitement. "He can be my babysit for today! Loki can stay instead of Miss Lumiere!"

Loki, who'd just taken another sip from his drink choked and spat out the coke right into Thor's face, but the God of thunder didn't bother. Jane and her husband looked at their child.

"What?" Jane asked silently as if she was scared she'd misheard. Loki on the other hand just waited patiently, while letting his eyes jump from one person to another.

"Please Mummy! I really don't want to spent the whole day with Miss Lumiere!" the little girl pleaded, putting her hands together. Jane and Thor looked at each other, both struck back and Loki had to try very hard not to laugh. Honestly, that wasn't such a bad idea… not that he wanted to babysit, but at least they would leave him alone! Frigga could take care of herself!

"Honey…" Jane started while a million versions of what could go wrong shot through her head.

"Frigga…" Thor tried.

It remained silent for a couple of seconds and Loki decided to say something.

"I'm okay with it, if anybody was wondering…"

Loki, Jane and even Frigga looked at the young king, surprised expressions covering their faces.

"You want to … babysit…" Thor asked after another short silence. Loki didn't answer, but drank a little of his drink. Frigga took her chance.

"Please Daddy!" she begged, showing her biggest puppy eyes possible. Loki could see Thor was starting to give in.

Thor sighed. His eyes jumped between Loki and Frigga. Obviously, he didn't really look forward to having Loki and his sarcastic comment by his side all day. And he didn't think Loki was going to hurt Frigga or destroy his house… For some reason he got the idea that Loki liked his daughter…

Jane had also noticed her husband's slow surrender and quickly intervened.

"No!" she shouted. "No way!"

Thor looked at his wife, but Loki was the first to speak.

"Why not?" he asked as innocently as he could manage. "I'm out of wormholes you know…"

"Well, for starters, you blew up my home! Excuse me if I don't fully trust you after that!"

Loki smirked. "I already told you: that wasn't an explosion by far…"

"I don't care!" Jane interrupted. She didn't mean to be rude, but a unexplainable strong fear had taken hold of her heart. She couldn't leave her little girl with … Loki! For one whole day!

Loki pulled up his eyebrows. "You want me to repair it then?" he asked nonchalantly.

Jane, who was ready to shout a response again, found herself speechless. The questioning look on her face seemed to amuse Loki. The young king lifted his arm towards the ceiling and opened the palm of his hand while making small circles with his wrist. Behind him all the furniture started moving, flying and turning. Broken glass found its place again, books flew back on their shelves, the wires untangled themselves and lay on the floor waiting for someone with more knowledge of TV cables to be plugged in again.

Thor rubbed his temples and threw an meaningful look on his brother. Loki pulled up his shoulders, lowered his hand and watched Jane with a huge smirk on his face.

Thor groaned silently. He hated it when Loki showed off with his magic tricks. Although he would never admit him, at moments like this he was really jealous!

Jane only just managed to close her mouth. Frigga, who had been watching everything with the same excitement as when she'd seen Loki save her sandcastle or change appearances, clapped her hands and shouted: "Awesome!"

* * *

So, I hope you liked it... I'll try working on the next chapter as soon as possible, but I can't promise anything... Sorry :(

Please, make my day and review ;)

Thx for reading my fic and off course ...Enjoy!

x

PS: there could be a lot of mistakes in this one (I mean more then in the other chapters :) )... sorry about that.. I wanted to upload something for you guys... Don't pay attention to them ;)


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